Author: Kajoyan Gevork

ARMENIAN OFFICERS HAVE MISSION TO BE INTELLECTUALS – ZHIRAYR SEFILIAN

Tert.am
15.09.11

Armenian military officers have a mission to be also intellectuals,
Zhirayr Sefilian, Head of the Sardarapat movement has written in his
Facebook account.

“The Armenian military officer has a mission also to be an
intellectual, and that should be one of state’s tasks,” wrote Sefilian,
who is also a veteran of the Karabakh War, and the former Commander
of the Sushi Special regiment.

“Our military personnel should entirely be educated only and only in
Armenian military institute,” wrote Sefilian, adding that by that he
does not meant the Military Institute after Vazgen Sargsyan.

Further, he said that Armenia should refrain from sending its
military officers to trainings organized by Russia, Greece, US, with
the exception of some technical specialties required for the use of
Russia-made weapons.

NOT HOLY BUT TRINITY
HAKOB BADALYAN

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 23:18:14 – 15/09/2011

A few days after Karen Karapetyan’s dismissal, the post of the chief
of president staff in Armenia celebrating the 20th anniversary of its
independence remains vacant. Perhaps this post is not so important
compared with the 20th anniversary that Serzh Sargsyan has put off
this issue until after the holiday, when he has time. But it is also
possible that the holiday was the reason why Serzh Sargsyan postponed
this issue.

The point is that the chief of the president staff, in fact, not
being a subject of public politics, is, nevertheless, an important
link in government, and maybe even an essential link. Moreover,
where government is formed through shaded deals and rigged elections
rather than the Constitution, the role of links with shade potential
is enhanced. And the president staff is, in fact, the primary link.

Perhaps the president is the product of his staff, although in Armenia
it may seem to be contrary. However, if we try to recall the staffs of
presidents of independent Armenia, one will notice that they have more
political content than the whole political arena, and apparently the
presidents are guided by the political component in forming their own
staff more than in forming the political sphere in Armenia, at least
where the second, third and next positions are concerned.

In this sense, Serzh Sargsyan’s next chief of staff will be
an interesting political indicator. The Russia-based Armenian
tycoons do not seem to have politically active relatives. Although
Ara Abrahamyan’s brothers are members of the three parties of the
coalition each, Serzh Sargsyan will hardly take the move of the horse
and appoint one of the brothers of Ara Abrahamyan as chief of staff.

Now it is an especially dangerous move, considering that Abrahamyan
had earlier given a horse to the ex-leader of Libya, Qaddafi. Who knows
maybe this horse now helps him to run away or the horse helps him solve
the problem of food during his escape. At any rate, it appears that
Ara Abrahamyan continues to help Qaddafi, which means that Abrahamyan
is not a wanted political personality for the presidents who want to
have full democracy and rule of law in their country in 20 years.

To be more serious, two possible candidates of chief of president
staff are mentioned, Vigen Sargsyan and Mikael Minasyan, who is Serzh
Sargsyan’s son-in-law. Both are in the president staff. Earlier Vigen
Sargsyan was in Robert Kocharyan’s staff.

Mikael Minasyan went there together with Serzh Sargsyan. He is
considered to be the most influential person of the president staff
who was able to remove Karen Karapetyan. Minasyan with the so-called
youth wing in the president staff is trying to gain absolute nfluence,
and Karen Karapetyan’s dismissal is a key move in this regard.

Minasyan’s influence was said to account for the dismissal of Mayor
Gagik Beglaryan who had dared to slap Aram Kandayan, an employee of
the protocol service, a representative of the youth branch.

By the way, Vigen Sargsyan is also young but it is difficult to
consider him to be part of Minasyan’s team, at least because till 2008
he was fully harmonized and integrated with the so-called Kocharyan
team. It may mean that Vigen Sargsyan’s factor in the president
staff is built on a basis which is beyond the internal political
configuration and team orientation.

What will guide Serzh Sargsyan in selecting chief of staff, the team
where Minasyan’s team has advantage or meta team, where Vigen Sargsyan
may have advantage? In addition, these two plains do not suppose a
controversy or opposition between Mikael Minasyan and Vigen Sargsyan.

Simply they are different platforms of the same process, the two
levels of security the same process, local and more global.

Nevertheless, the third option should not be ruled out either. Why? At
least because the number 3 is the magic companion of the recent
developments in Armenia. Now we are at the threshold of the third
decade of the third republic, the process is rotating around the
three presidents, the geopolitical centers where the political
class of Armenia seek a “fortune” are three, Washington, Moscow,
Brussels. So number 3 is urgent.

It is essential what is flowing below, through and on top of, or
maybe beside this “trinity” and where.

ARMENIA’S LARGEST 440 CORPORATE TAXPAYERS PAY 20.6 BILLION DRAMS IN TAXES AND OTHER PAYMENTS IN JULY

/ARKA/
September 15, 2011
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, September 15. / ARKA /. Armenia’s largest 440 corporate
taxpayers paid 20.6 billion drams in taxes and other mandatory payments
in July this year, which made 57.5% of all tax revenues, the State
Revenue Committee said in a report posted on its official website.

The report says the Committee conducted 64 inspections in July
recovering 766.7 million drams of avoided taxes. ($1 – 374,94 drams).

EURO-2012 – ARMENIE : 3 MILLIONS DE DOLLARS DE PRIME EN CAS DE QUALIFICATION
Stephane

armenews.com
vendredi 16 septembre 2011

Le president de la Federation armenienne de football Ruben Airapetyan
a promis une prime de 3 millions de dollars (environ 2,1 M d’euros)
a son equipe nationale en cas de qualification a l’Euro-2012 pour
laquelle elle reste en course, rapportent des medias locaux.

“Notre selection a maintenant de reelles chances de participer a son
premier Euro”, a explique M. Airapetyan. Les joueurs recevront une
prime de trois millions de dollars si notre reve devient realite.”

Plus concrètement, l’Armenie, actuelle 3e du groupe B, vient en
effet titiller la hierarchie au moment d’aborder la dernière ligne
droite des eliminatoires. Forte de sa retentissante victoire (4-0)
mardi en Slovaquie, a qui elle a ravi la 3e place, elle compte un
point de retard sur l’Eire (15 pts) et trois sur la Russie, alors
qu’il reste deux journees a jouer.

“Quatre nations peuvent encore se qualifier pour l’Euro, je crois que
l’Armenie a autant de chances de le faire que les autres”, a abonde
le selectionneur national Vardan Minasyan.

Il faudra d’abord battre le 7 octobre la Macedoine, avant-dernière du
groupe B, avant de peut-etre jouer une place directement qualificative
ou plus probablement de barrage contre l’Eire quatre jours plus tard
a Dublin.

‘5,900-YEAR-OLD DRESS’ FOUND IN ARMENIA

Agence France Presse
September 14, 2011 Wednesday 12:48 PM GMT

Archaeologists in Armenia said on Wednesday that they had found parts
of a woman’s multicoloured straw dress that they believe was made
around 5,900 years ago.

The find was made during excavations at a cave complex in southern
Armenia where previous discoveries have included what are believed
to be the world’s oldest known leather shoe and most ancient winery,
dating back 5,500 and 6,100 years respectively.

“It is the only example of clothing made of such an ancient vegetable
material,” Pavel Avetisian, director of the Institute of Archaeology
and Ethnology at Armenia’s Academy of Sciences, told AFP.

The dress parts were dated by scientists at the University of
California and are now being restored, Avetisian said.

“As soon as we manage to put together all the parts of the dress,
we will have a full picture of what women were wearing in the 39th
century BC,” he said.

Avetisian said that excavations at the cave complex were still in
their early stages, and further interesting finds could be expected.

“I am sure that it holds many more surprises for us,” he said.

GIFT CELEBRATES PHOTOGRAPHER’S ARMENIAN HERITAGE

Boston Globe

Sept 15 2011
MA

WATERTOWN – The photos are iconic, intimate portraits of many of the
most important figures of the 20th century: Winston Churchill, Albert
Einstein, Ernest Hemingway, Queen Elizabeth, Martin Luther King Jr.
Yet few know that the photographer, Yousef Karsh, who died in 2002
at age 93, was an Armenian who narrowly escaped the genocide in his
homeland that killed an estimated 1 million living in the Ottoman
Empire between 1915 and 1920.

He immigrated to Canada as a boy, and came to Boston as a young man
in the 1920s to apprentice with a legendary portrait photographer,
John H. Garo, whose Back Bay studio would become, Karsh wrote later,
“my university.”

Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts and the Boston Public Library have
featured Karsh’s work in recent years, but when it came to choosing
a permanent home for nearly 30 original portraits, Karsh’s widow
chose to donate them to the Armenian Library and Museum of America
in Watertown for its permanent collection.

The library and museum had originally asked only for a loan of several
portraits, but Estrellita Karsh decided to make the photos a gift.

“Yousef was so proud of his heritage,” she said. “He was a citizen
of the world, but enormously proud of being Armenian.”

The 40-year-old library and museum – the largest of its kind in the
world outside of Armenia – is using the serendipity of Karsh’s gift
to transform its main gallery into an open, airy, modern space to
showcase his work in a new permanent collection.

“Armenians are proud of Karsh’s work, and he is an internationally
admired photographer,” said Michele Kolligian, an executive vice
president of the museum’s board. “We want to bring non-Armenians in .

. . to share Karsh’s Armenian heritage, and show it to people who
might never have come here otherwise.”

Designed by art consultant Keith Crippen, the exhibition “Celebrating
Humanity” will occupy a windowfront gallery as part of the museum’s
$500,000 renovation project, featuring state-of-the-art lighting,
secure display spaces, and soaring ceilings. A new streamlined welcome
desk will greet visitors at the building’s Main Street entrance in
Watertown Square.

It will open with a black-tie gala benefit in Boston tomorrow, and a
reception at the museum Saturday. It is hoped the Armenian ambassador
to the United States will attend, Kolligian said.

Curator Gary Lind-Sinanian said that the Karsh gift and the renovations
it has inspired are among the biggest challenges he’s faced in his
two-decade-long career at the museum.

“We are transforming a small ethnic museum into an art museum, which
is very exciting,” Lind-Sinanian said while showing visitors the
new space.

The revamped space will have improved climate-controlled curatorial
glass cases and security provisions making it possible to feature one
of museum’s most important treasures – an Armenian synoptic gospel
from 1207.

The object is revered for its age and rarity, but also because in
Armenian households, holy books were treated as family members,
as blessed and miraculous items.

The museum’s other collections, which include extensive textiles,
books, statues, musical instruments, and other artifacts, as well as
a historical overview of the genocide, will also be featured, he said.

Haig Der Manuelian, chairman of the board and a founding member of
the Armenian Library and Museum of America, said the museum is eager
to highlight the accomplishments of contemporary Armenian-Americans,
along with the necessary homage to the past.

Karsh is good example of an Armenian who treasured his heritage
despite living most of his life in the United States and Canada,
Der Manuelian said.

Estrellita Karsh said her husband would have been pleased to see his
work transforming the Watertown museum.

“They are embracing their great past and moving forward into the 21st
century,” she said of the museum. “The show’s name, ‘Celebrating
Humanity,’ is exactly what he most valued in the world.”

CONFERENCE WILL BE HELD IN YEREVAN ON ROLE OF ARMENIANS IN CULTURE OF POLIS

news.am
Sept 15 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN. – In the conference hall of Armenia’s National Academy
of Sciences (NAS), within the frameworks of “Days of Polis-Armenian
community in Armenia” project, the conference on “The role of Armenians
in the culture of Polis” will be held along with the book exhibition
of Karo Kyurkman.

Ministry of Diaspora informs Armenian News-NEWS.am, that the opening
speech will be given by Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan, the
president of NAS Radik Martirosyan, and the director of the Institute
of NAS Oriental Studies Ruben Safrastyan.

Reports will be presented by Karo Kyurkman (Istanbul) on the “Book
notes of Karo Kyurkman”, Hasmik Stepanyan (Yerevan) on “The role of
Armenians in the culture of the Ottoman Empire”, Suren Danielyan
(Yerevan) on “Symbolic movement and Zareh Khrakhun’s poetry”, and
Armen Ter-Stepanyan (Istanbul) on “Polis in Armenian manuscript”.

The session will be conducted by Ruben Safrastyan.

U.S. RESPECTS DEFENSE CHOICES OF S.CAUCUSES COUNTRIES

Trend News Agency
Sept 15 2011
Azerbaijan

U.S., Washington, Sept. 15 /Trend special corr. M.Assenova/

Russia will have a role in the South Caucasus, but no country should
have the right to a privileged sphere of influence in the region,
said today Jennifer Walsh, Principle Director for Russia, Ukraine
and Eurasia at the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) at a conference
on 20 years of independence of the South Caucasus. The conference
is hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in
Washington, DC.

“We do not agree with this position of Russia,” she added.

Ms. Walsh stressed that the Defense Department respects the political
and defense choices made by each of the South Caucasus countries.

“We welcome the aspirations of Georgia to join NATO, this right is
mandated by the international law,” she said. “We respect the choice
of Azerbaijan to partner with NATO and also Armenia¹s membership in
NATO’s Partnership for Peace,” she said.

Ms. Walsh said that the importance of the region to U.S. security
interests is based on its geographical proximity to Iran and countries
that are possible suppliers of weapons of mass destruction. The South
Caucasus plays a critical role in the logistics to sustain the supply
lines to NATO¹s military operations in Afghanistan. The region is also
an important energy producer and energy corridor to Europe. Jennifer
Walsh pointed out that the United States has national interest in
promoting stability and conflict resolution, particularly in a region
prone to violence where the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has not been
resolved for two decades. Last but not least, the South Caucasus is a
part of the larger Euro-Atlantic space and each country in the region
is free to join the Euro-Atlantic institutions.

Ms. Walsh outlined major aspects of U.S. defense cooperation with
Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. In Azerbaijan, the DoD focuses on
reforms of the military institutions, building a NATO interoperable
unit, and ensuring protection of the energy infrastructure. In Armenia,
DoD focuses on peacekeeping training, reforming the military, and
training and education of military personnel. In Georgia, DoD supports
defense reforms and modernization, and the country¹s NATO aspirations.

AZERBAIJANI FOREIGN MINISTRY UNHAPPY WITH THE UPCOMING LOCAL ELECTIONS IN THE NKR

Mediamax
Sept 15 2011
Armenia

Yerevan/Mediamax/. Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry stated today that
“the so-called “elections” of the local authorities scheduled by
the NKR separatist regime on September 18 show indulgences towards
Armenia’s occupational policy”.

“The self-declared regime established on the territory of the occupied
territories of Azerbaijan is an illegal structure. It was set up as a
result of the policy of ethnic cleansing realized by Armenia towards
the Azerbaijani community of the region. The so-called “elections” are
aimed at concealing Armenia’s occupational policy and consolidating the
results of the occupation of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized
territories”, the statement of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry reads.

The fifth elections of local governments over the years of independence
of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR) will be held on September
18. 251 election precincts are formed throughout the republic and 34
of them are located in Stepanakert.

There are already 3 registered candidates for the Stepanakert Mayor.

Current Mayor of the capital Vazgen Mikayelyan decided not to
participate in the elections.

YEREVAN SUBWAY SUPPLEMENTED WITH NEW TRAINS

news.am
Sept 15 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN. – On the eve of 20th anniversary of Armenia’s independence,
as well as “Erebuni-Yerevan” celebrations and on 30th anniversary
of Yerevan Subway, new trains equipped with modern technology were
introduced in Yerevan city subway.

The city hall press service informs Armenian News-NEWS.am that the
initial presentation of the new trains with the first deputy of Yerevan
city mayor Taron Margaryan as a passenger has already taken place. New
drivers were trained, as the new trains are managed by computers.

The director of Yerevan subway Paylak Yayloyan assured that new trains
correspond to European standards. Within the frameworks of the subway
development project, reforms are taking place continually. Yerevan city
Mayor Karen Karapetyan once again assured that projects will continue.