Author: Hambardsumian Paul

RUSSIA SUCCESSFULLY TESTS SUKHOI T-50 STEALTH FIGHTER JET

RIA Novosti
17:5129/01/2010

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti military commentator Ilya Kramnik) – On December
29, 2010, a prototype Sukhoi T-50 fifth-generation fighter took off
on its maiden flight at 11.19 a.m. in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Russia’s
Far East.

This is the first warplane completely designed and built in Russia
since the break-up of the Soviet Union. Only the United States
currently operates Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor Stealth
air-superiority fighters.

In 1981, the Mikoyan Design Bureau started developing the I-90
aircraft, better known as the Multifunctional Fighter (MFI). The
project was launched soon after the MiG-29 Fulcrum, MiG-31 Foxhound and
Su-27 Flanker fourth-generation fighters performed their first flights.

The I-90 which was to have been mass-produced in the 1990s overtook
the U.S. Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) program which later gave
rise to the F-22 Raptor.

Curtailed defense spending in the late 1980s and the subsequent
break-up of the Soviet Union stopped the MFI program in its tracks.

Flight tests planned for 1991 -1992 did not take place. Consequently,
the MFI first took to the skies in 2000.

A prototype Sukhoi S-37/Su-47 Berkut fifth-generation fighter had
been developed by then.

In 1998, the Russian Air Force issued a new request for proposal
(RFP) for a fifth-generation fighter. As a concept it had remained
unchanged since the MFI program got underway.

The new fighter’s basic specifications included: greater agility,
sustained supersonic-flight capability in non-afterburning mode, low
radar visibility, low heat signature, as well as enhanced take-off
and landing performance.

The old designs were scrapped, and it was decided to develop
an entirely new warplane fully taking into account the F-22’s
capabilities, merits and drawbacks.

In 2002, the Sukhoi Design Bureau won the pilot-project contest, after
proposing a full-size and twin-engined fighter with a take-off weight
of up to 35 metric tons under its Prospective/Promising Frontline
Aviation System program (PAK FA program).

Although the new aircraft was expected to take off in 2007, the maiden
flight deadline was delayed until 2008, 2009 and January 2010.

Given this new program’s complexity and the scale of the scientific,
engineering, organizational and financial problems that had to
be tackled during the new plane’s creation, this delay is quite
understandable.

All these problems are caused by Russia’s crisis-ridden industry.

The new aircraft is designated the T-50, Product 701 or the I-21. The
Indian Air Force also displayed an interest in this program soon
after it was launched.

At first, New Delhi preferred the lighter and simpler Mikoyan-Gurevich
MFI fighter. The Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG proposed the
twin-engined and bobtailed I-2000, an upgrade of the basic MiG-29
model, and a single-engined aircraft closely resembling the Lockheed
Martin F-35 Lightning II, a descendant of the F-35, which came out
of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program.

India wanted to receive this sophisticated aircraft as soon as possible
therefore had no choice but to join the PAK FA program. The Indian
version will feature a two-seat cockpit, a number of electronic
systems and other auxiliary equipment.

These aircraft are expected to replace the Su-30MKI Flanker-H fighters
currently serving with the Indian Air Force, in the 2020s and the
2030s. Moreover, it is likely they will be mass-produced in India.

The latest test flight reaffirms Russia’s status as a leading aviation
power. Only Russia and the United States currently have their own
fifth-generation fighters, as well as aircraft industries capable
of manufacturing all types of military and civilian aircraft ranging
from light-weight aerobatic planes to strategic bombers.

All other countries, including France, Sweden, the EU as a whole,
China and Japan, lack these capabilities and are forced to implement
various cooperation plans in order to develop new-generation aircraft.

Despite their combined efforts the joint EU aircraft industry has
failed to create a fifth-generation fighter in place of the Eurofighter
Typhoon twin-engined multi-role aircraft. Most of the Eurofighter
project participants intend to buy the U.S. F-35 fighter in future.

The future for new Swedish and French aircraft remains bleak. Both the
Saab JAS 39 Gripen and the Dassault Rafale rank among the generation
four-plus-plus warplanes. Neither Stockholm, nor Paris can afford to
implement multi-billion-dollar fifth-generation fighter programs.

China’s prospects also seem doubtful. Most analysts agree that Beijing
can develop a fifth-generation warplane only if it utilizes foreign,
notably Russian, experience.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s and do not
necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

ORANGE ARMENIA LAUNCHES ‘FREE-OF-CHARGE MINUTES FOR YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS’ SERVICE

ArmInfo
2010-02-01 12:13:00

ArmInfo. Orange Armenia launches a "Free-of-charge minutes for you
and your friends" service, the Company press service reports.

The proposal is valid till February 28. Until this date, both the
current and new subscribers may invite their friends to join Orange
network and receive 300 free-of- charge minutes in Orange network and
with every new invitation. Subscribers of both tariff plans of Orange,
"Let us Talk" and "Every Month" may also use this service. Orange
Armenia is subsidiary of France Telecom.

Rhythms of a Trebizond pilgrimage

Story from BBC NEWS:
europe/8488238.stm

Published: 2010/01/29 16:58:10 GMT

The Ottoman empire was home to many nationalities and religions – a
cultural mosaic that was splintered by nationalism and war in the 20th
Century. But a new spirit of tolerance may be emerging in modern
Turkey, albeit slowly and unsteadily, reports Thomas de Waal.

For almost 90 years, the monastery of Soumela, situated at
eagle-height in a gorge in eastern Turkey, has been an echoing ruin.

Worship ended here in 1923 when modern Greece and Turkey exchanged
their Christian and Muslim populations and the local Christian Greeks
from this region left en masse.

But in the last decade, Greek pilgrims, calling themselves tourists,
have started coming back here on the old feast-day of the Virgin Mary.

Last August I was at the monastery, officially a state museum, as a
Greek Orthodox service sounded out again outside its walls – but it
lasted just 30 seconds.

A black-cassocked monk began to sing the liturgy in deep tones before
a Turkish museum curator broke up the service. A fight threatened to
break out. The gathering broke up in recriminations and grandstanding
speeches.

Old homeland

One step forward, one step back. The story of the-service-that-wasn’t
at Soumela is a suitably Byzantine tale that takes in Turks, Greeks
and Russians and plenty of different factions amongst them.

The background to it is that the government of the moderately Islamic
AK Party is challenging tenets of the modern secular Turkish state and
reviving memories of the multi-ethnic Ottoman era.

The new foreign policy of "zero problems with neighbours" is building
bridges with old enemies, including Armenians and Greeks and that has
been welcome for curious Black Sea Greeks who want to revisit the old
homeland which they call the Pontus.

Musicians have led the way. Both the Black Sea Turks and the Pontic
Greeks play an instrument they call the kemenje or lyra and in English
you might call a lyre.

It is small, light and three-stringed, made of cherry-wood, played
with a bow and held against the knee. Its visceral music sets the
rhythm for the round dances that both Greeks and Turks seem to know
instinctively.

Two musicians in particular, the Greek anthropologist and lyre-player
Nikos Mikhailides and Adem Erdem, a local Turkish player, have blazed
a trail.

The album they recorded together in the Pontic Greek dialect has
become a smash hit with Pontic Greeks from Thessaloniki to Tashkent.
Although not on sale in Turkey, it has been a hit too in Trabzon in
thousands of pirate copies.

One of the secrets of this part of Turkey is that tens of thousands of
local Muslims, whose ancestors were once Christian, still speak and
understand this archaic version of the Greek language.

Festive frenzy

Trabzon is more famous to English ears as Trebizond, the city of Rose
Macaulay’s novel The Towers of Trebizond.

Nowadays Macaulay’s magical city is a functional Turkish Black Sea
port. But last August its past stirred into life again. The day before
the feast-day of 15 August, half the valley seemed to be talking
Greek.

At a Turkish wedding feast we watched a middle-aged blonde woman with
a string of pearls round her neck step smoothly into the dance. It
turned out she was a professor of law at Athens University. We were
the strangers here, not her.

The next morning we ascended the valley to Soumela.

It was a heady Alpine summer’s day. From a distance it could be a
Tibetan monastery, a yellowing beehive high above the gorge. Hundreds
of people toiled up the path.

The atmosphere was both excited and tense, with watchful Turkish
policemen at every corner. Outside the monastery gate, a Greek
lyre-player with a fine set of pointed moustaches was whipping a crowd
of dancers into a festive frenzy.

The beaming Sotiria Liliopoulos had come from Earlwood, New South
Wales – her father, now aged 98, was born in Maçka and came here as a
child. In an accent veering from Greek to Australian, Sotiria said,
"This is the happiest day of my life."

But politics was humming in the background.

A wealthy member of the Russian parliament of Greek descent named Ivan
Savvidi, who is making a pitch to be the leader of the Pontic Greek
community, had chartered a ferry to ship Russian Greeks here across
the Black Sea.

The nationalist local authorities in Trabzon were nervous of his
intentions. When Savvidi’s Russian party made it to the top of the
path, they were an incongruous mix – there were attractive young women
in yellow T-shirts and baseball caps with Byzantine eagles on them,
and a bearded man dressed in white shirtsleeves and shades (a priest
ordered to remove his cassock) carrying a large icon, which Greeks
stopped to venerate and kiss.

Radicals

The politician himself waved to the crowd and persuaded a Greek priest
to start a service.

The priest began to sing, but the Turkish museum curator had orders to
stop any religious ceremony on her territory. She pushed out of her
ticket booth into the crowd, shouting in Turkish, and tried to wrest a
lighted candle out of Savvidi’s hands.

Greek and Turkish television cameras whirred. The divides between the
Greeks came to the surface. Some of them, the radicals, started a
provocative rendition of the Greek national anthem. Others shushed
them.

There seemed to be only two winners here, the Turkish curator and the
Russian MP, both of whom had played heroes to the cameras.

Standing on a wall, Savvidi told the Greek crowd that the Turks had
offended civilisation and he would complain in Brussels.

He said that he had informed the Russian foreign ministry of his
plans, but failed to mention if he had permission from the Turkish
government.

As Savvidi spoke, other Greeks – ones who have spent years quietly
building bridges with the locals – were drifting away, angry at the
way the feast day was being taken from them.

At the bottom of the valley, my mood lifted again. The lyra-musicians
were performing and a couple were dancing in extravagant rhythms. The
crowd clapped and whooped.

Music is irrepressible and it draws people together, even when the
politicians cannot manage it.

Tom de Waal presents Songs of Trebizond on

at 2150GMT on Sunday, 31 January. He is a specialist on the Caucasus
with the Carnegie Endowment in Washington.
Photos by

staff photographer at Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania, USA.

STRATFOR: SITUATION AROUND NAGORNO KARABAKH MAY GET OUT OF CONTROL

ArmInfo
2010-01-29 11:49:00

ArmInfo. The situation around Nagorno Karabakh may get out of control
not because Russia, Turkey and Iran want it, but because the internal
dynamics of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict may prevail and we
shall turn out to be in a situation like that in 1914, when a local
conflict in Bosnia provoked a world war, Stratfor analyst for Eurasia
Marco Papic said.

According to him, the Nagorno Karabakh is currently a very important
topic, since Azerbaijan and Armenia are surrounded by three growing
regional powers: Russia in the north, Turkey in the west and Iran in
the south-east. Therefore, he said, interaction among these regional
powers will depend on the situation around Armenia and Azerbaijan. The
analyst thinks that the interest of Russia in this conflict from the
very beginning was the following: to involve Turkey in an unrecoverable
conflict which cannot be settled basically. He said it really spares
Turkey’s time and energy in the region, where Russia feels quite
alleviated. Moreover, Papic said that Azerbaijan seems to slowly move
closer to Russia, as it feels that Turkey neglects its interests when
negotiating with Armenia.

TURKISH, ARMENIAN FMS MEET FOR SHORT TALK IN LONDON

AZG DAILY
29-01-2010

Armenia-Turkey; Turkish press

LONDON – Hurriyet Daily News- Davutoglu-Nalbandian talks mark the
first face-to-face meeting after Armenia’s court ruling draws strong
criticism from Ankara. The ruling jeopardized the protocols that
were signed to begin normalization of diplomatic relations between
the two foes

The foreign ministers of Turkey and Armenia held an impromptu meeting
Thursday at an international conference in London during which
Turkey relayed its concerns about the prospects of the two countries’
protocols.

The informal meeting marked the first face-to-face talk since an
Armenian court ruling drew strong criticism from Ankara, jeopardizing
the fate of the protocols that seek to normalize diplomatic relations
between the two old foes.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu once more expressed Turkey’s concerns
over the court ruling that refers to the 1915 killings of Armenians as
"genocide" and makes reference to eastern Turkey as "Western Armenia,"
diplomatic sources said. "The two sides had the chance to review
their well-known positions. There is no change," said one diplomat.

Davutoglu and Nalbandian agreed to meet on the sidelines of a security
conference next week in Munich, Germany, for more bilateral talks,
sources said. They also said that meanwhile Ankara was urging third
parties to prompt Armenia to indicate that the protocols’ content
will not be contradicted.

The two foreign ministers held a telephone conversation last week
with Ankara saying the court decision was against the spirit of the
accords on which the sides already reached an agreement.

Davutoglu held a 15-minute meeting Wednesday with U.S. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton as soon as he landed in London, with their talks
focusing entirely on the Armenian court’s ruling, Turkish diplomats
told the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review. Ankara communicated
its concerns to Washington and asked that these concerns be addressed.

Clinton also met separately with Nalbandian on Thursday.

On the plane from Istanbul to London, Davutoglu said Turkey signed
the protocols with Armenia to normalize Turkish-Armenian ties, help
Turks and Armenians eliminate their prejudices and maintain the
comprehensive peace in the Caucasus. "We do not want those visions
to be blurred. The court ruling is restrictive," he said.

Turkey is now working on a legal text that proves the court ruling’s
non-conformity with the protocols that will be sent to Switzerland,
which brokered the talks between the two countries, and to the
co-chairman of the Minsk Group, which is leading the Karabakh talks.

"Our views should be heard and our concerns should be removed,"
said Davutoglu.

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday the deal between Ankara
and Yerevan to open their shared border and establish diplomatic
relations was under the growing threat of collapse.

Armenia is pushing for rapid ratification of the protocols, signed
in October, while Turkey has a longer time frame in mind, said
the report. On Wednesday, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev added
concern about the deal by saying he was confident Turkey would not
ratify the agreement until Armenia has returned Nagorno-Karabakh,
an Azerbaijani territory occupied by Yerevan.

"There is a common understanding in the region that there should
be a first step by Armenia to start the liberation of the occupied
territories," Aliyev said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal
on the margins of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He
said he was "fully satisfied" with Turkey’s understanding of the issue,
despite harshly criticizing Turkey’s handling of it in the past.

"If the two issues are disconnected, then probably Armenia will
freeze negotiations with Azerbaijan [over Nagorno Karabakh]," said
Aliyev, adding that he believed economic pressure was one of the main
incentives for Armenia to come to the table. The leader has warned
previously that such an outcome could lead to renewed war.

Davutoglu will meet with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Elmar
Mammadyarov, on Friday at the London conference. Diplomatic sources
said Ankara would inform Baku of its current position after the
Armenian court ruling.

The Turkish foreign minister was scheduled to meet with Clinton
again Thursday as the Daily News went to print. Davutoglu also held
talks with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, his Kazakh
counterpart and European Union’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton

KURDISH GIRL GETS 8 YEARS IN PRISON IN TURKEY

press tv
Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:13:27 GMT

A Turkish high criminal court has sentenced an adolescent Kurdish
girl to nearly eight years in prison on charges of hurling stones at
police officers and chanting illegal slogans during a protest in the
southeastern city of Batman.

Police claimed that the 15-year-old Kurdish teenager, Berivan attended
an illegal march in October and concealed her face behind a scarf.

Berivan rejected the accusation saying that she was detained while
going to visit her aunt, Hurriyet newspaper reported on Wednesday.

"I did not hurl stones at police officers. I do not have any relation
with the march. I noticed a crowd and walked towards it to see what
it was. Police surrounded the crowd before I reached them. A policeman
detained me because he thought I was a protester but I was not. I was
just going to visit my aunt living in the central part of the city,"
Berivan said.

The court had originally sentenced her to a total of 13 years in
prison – seven years on charges of committing a crime on behalf of an
outlawed organization, five years on charges of attending an illegal
demonstration, and one year on charges of propaganda for the group.

However, her sentence was commuted to seven years and nine months
because she is an adolescent.

After the judge announced the sentence, the girl’s mother burst into
tears and shouted, "Did she murder? The murderers are not sentenced
to such a long prison term."

ECONOMIC GROWTH OR DECLINE?
Lena Badeyan

"Radiolur"
27.01.2010 17:28

Economist, MP Vardan Bostanjyan considers that this year it will
be possible to maintain the 1.2% economic growth. Representative of
the opposition, ex-President of the Central Bank of Armenia Bagran
Asatryan insists, however, that even the nature is against us today.

Taking into consideration the damage caused by nature, Bagrat Asatryan
advices to take account of the situation in the filed of agriculture,
when making forecasts. He stresses that there will be no growth in
2010. A 3-4% decline should be expected, instead.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Director
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Watch our latest videos on YouTube here:

STUDENT COMPETITIONS IN TERTIARY AND HIGH SCHOOLS BEGIN IN ANTELIAS

Khatchik Babikian Foundation of the Holy See of Cilicia organizes annual
competitions for students in Tertiary and High Schools belonging to the
community.

The 2010 competition for Armenian Language and Literature was recently
announced, and 38 students from 18 Tertiary Schools and 22 students from 12
High Schools were selected by their schools. A Jury appointed by the Board
of the Fund will screen these candidates and the Board will make the results
public soon.

In March competitions for religious studies and history will begin. At the
end of all competitions, the winners will receive their awards in a public
event.

##
View the photo here:
tos/Photos434.htm#2
*****
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the history and
the mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician
Catholicosate, the administrative center of the church is located in
Antelias, Lebanon.

NKR RE-ENGAGEMENT IN TALKS TO CHANGE RULES OF GAME

PanARMENIAN.Net
26.01.2010 14:12 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Sargsyan-Aliyev-Medvedev meeting in Sochi has
justified expectations, said Ruben Hakobyan, director of analytic
research center.

As to revised Madrid principles, he said, "I’m not aware of the
contents of the preamble to the agreement, but Karabakh conflict is
expected to be settled in compliance with the international norms –
territorial integrity and the right of nations to self-determination."

"It will be a success of Armenian diplomacy if Nagorno Karabakh joins
negotiations. Re-engaging in the process, Arstakh may change rules
of game and become a key actor in the talks," Hakobyan said.

EVERYONE AGREES: NAGORNO-KARABAKH’S PARTICIPATION IN NEGOTIATING PROCESS IS IMPERATIVE

Tert.am
10:51 ~U 26.01.10

This year’s first trilateral meeting on the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan,
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev took place yesterday in the Russian city of Sochi. The three
countries’ foreign ministers also took part in the second half of
the meeting.

This was the first meeting between Armenia’s and Azerbaijan’s
presidents this year, and the fourth trilateral meeting overall with
the participation of the Russian president, according to a press
release issued by the RA presidential press office.

Discussed during the meeting was the current stage, as well as future
prospects, of negotiations in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement
process. Afterwards, the talks continued informally over lunch.

According to a high-level official close to the talks, established
in the agreed-upon preamble was Nagorno-Karabakh’s imperative
participation in future stages in the negotiations, as well as nations’
right to self-determination being a priority in the conflict settlement
process.

Also planned during the Sochi visit was a separate meeting with the
Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents with OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs
Robert Bradtke, Bernard Fassier, and Yuri Merzlyakov.

Late yesterday evening, RA President Serzh Sargsyan was to return
to Yerevan.