Author: Kajoyan Gevork

FRANCE HOSTS TALKS BETWEEN ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN OVER DISPUTED TERRITORY

Greenfield Daily Reporter, Indiana
Oct 27 2014

By SYLVIE CORBET

PARIS — The leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia restarted a dialogue
Monday during a three-way meeting in Paris with French president
Francois Hollande, in an effort to ease tensions in the disputed
Nagorno-Karabakh region of the southern Caucasus.

Armenian President Serge Sarkisian and Azerbaijan President Ilham
Aliyev agreed Monday to exchange information on the persons who
disappeared during the six-year separatist war that ended in 1994. The
process will be conducted under the auspices of the International
Committee of the Red Cross, according to a written statement released
by the French presidency.

They also agreed to continue the dialogue at new meeting in September
2015 on the sidelines of the General Assembly of the United Nations
in New York.

Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan but it and some surrounding
territory have been under the control of Armenian soldiers and local
Armenian forces since a 1994 cease-fire. Since then, there have been
sporadic clashes, but last summer tensions rose sharply as 19 soldiers
were killed in multiple confrontations.

Years of diplomatic efforts under the auspices of the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe have made little visible progress
in resolving the dispute.

Earlier Monday, Hollande met separately with each leader.

During a one-to-one meeting with Aliyev, the French president evoked
the situation of the prominent human right activist Leila Yunus,
who is jailed in Azerbaijan. Yunus was arrested with her husband and
charged with spying for Armenia last July.

Aliyev “has made commitments” on that matter, said a top French
official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed
to speak publicly on the matter. He didn’t give details because of
the sensitiveness of the issue.

ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN TO CONTINUE SEARCH FOR PEACE, FRANCE SAYS

Bloomberg
Oct 28 2014

By Sara Khojoyan Oct 28, 2014 4:34 PM GMT+0200

Armenia and Azerbaijan will continue high-level talks to settle the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, according to a statement issued after a
meeting hosted by President Francois Hollande in Paris.

President Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia and President Ilham Aliyev of
Azerbaijan plan to meet next September in New York, the statement by
the French presidency late Oct. 27 said.

“The absence of an alternative to the peaceful resolution of the
conflict was stressed” at the talks, according to the Armenian
presidential press service. Azerbaijan has not yet commented on
the meeting.

Negotiations were “constructive, useful and frank,” Armenia’s Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandian told reporters in Paris after the meeting,
which was initiated by Hollande with participation of the OSCE’s
Minsk Group co-chairs and the personal representative of the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office.

Armenians took over Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts
from Azerbaijan in a war after the breakup of the Soviet Union in
1991. The South Caucasus countries, which border Turkey and Iran,
signed a cease-fire brokered by Russia in 1994 after more than 30,000
people were killed and at least 1.2 million were displaced.

Negotiations led by France, the U.S. and Russia as Minsk Group
co-chairs have yet to produce a final peace agreement.

Sargsyan and Aliyev last met in August in Sochi, on Russia’s Black
Sea coast, for talks mediated by Russian President Vladimir Putin
after more than 20 troops were killed in the deadliest fighting in
two decades.

Azerbaijan, which signed $45 billion of contracts with a BP Plc-led
group in December to pipe natural gas to Europe from 2019, has
repeatedly threatened to use force to regain control of the territory
should peace efforts fail.

VLADIMIR PUTIN’S EURASIAN ECONOMIC UNION GETS READY TO TAKE ON THE WORLD

Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus at heart of post-Soviet trading bloc
that aspires to commerce but not community

Benoît Vitkine Guardian Weekly, Tuesday 28 October 2014 10.04 GMT

Leaders of former Soviet states gather for a regional summit in Minsk,
Belarus. Photograph: Sasha Mordovets/Getty

Until the last moment Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus,
held out for 7 October, to coincide with Vladimir Putin’s birthday.

But in the end the parliament in Minsk ratified the treaty on Eurasian
Economic Union on 9 October, the day before its first three members –
Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan – were due to meet.

It would be simplistic to reduce the nascent EEU to a toy in the hands
of the Russian president. When it comes into force, on 1 January 2015,
it will be the most advanced organisation for regional cooperation
the former Soviet bloc has seen, an achievement preceded by many
false starts.

In fact, the EEU already exists. It has a headquarters – a glass
building near Paveletsky railway station in Moscow – and officials
who would not look out of place in Brussels. Its member states
have already lifted some internal customs barriers and harmonised
others for the outside world. So much for the practical side, what
analyst Nicu Popescu describes in anarticle for the European Union
Institute of Security Studies as the “real” EEU, a trading alliance
slated to guarantee free circulation of goods, services and assets,
but not hydrocarbons.

The other Eurasian Union is “imaginary”, the brainchild of Putin,
first mentioned in October 2011. As he sees it, this organisation will
be the equal of the EU and other major regional entities, a powerful
bloc that will matter on the world stage. Its official formation
is also intended to show the world that Russia has fully recovered,
while crowning Putin’s efforts to pull together the states making up
the post-Soviet sphere of influence. Those who deride the scheme see
it as an attempt to restore the empire.

This dream foundered last November in Kiev, when the Maidan protests
started. They carried away President Viktor Yanukovych, guilty in the
eyes of the demonstrators of refusing an association agreement with the
EU. Ukraine, with its population of 45 million, was supposed to play
a key role in the EEU, on account of its economic clout and the place
it occupies in the Russian imagination and worldview. “Without Ukraine,
Russia ceases to be a Eurasian empire,” the former US national security
adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote in The Grand Chessboard, in 1997.

Ukraine had to be punished, for wanting to move closer to Europe but
also for refusing to join the EEU, after Yanukovych’s demise. Moscow
started by restricting trade with its neighbour, then annexed part
of its territory (Crimea) and finally fomented war in its eastern
extremity. Russia has also put pressure on Moldova and Georgia,
both of which have so far shunned the EEU.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Kazakhstan’s President
Nursultan Nazarbayev. Both Belarus and Kazakhstan demanded subsidies in
the form of gas or cash to join the EEU. Photograph: Dmitry Astakhov/AP

Belarus and Kazakhstan have often voiced their concern at the treatment
meted out to Ukraine. They have worked to limit the political weight
of the Union too. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev lobbied hard
to get the word “economic” in the title and both states demanded a
high price – gas or cash – for joining.

Although Putin is determined to push the EEU perimeter as far as
possible, it is not yet clear what real economic benefit countries
will gain from membership. Apart from Belarus and Uzbekistan, all
former Soviet states have stronger commercial links with either the
EU or China than with Russia.

Since the first customs measures were introduced in 2010, only Belarus
has benefited. Enlargement to include poorer states such as Armenia,
Kyrgyzstan or Tajikistan would make the balance of the EEU even
more precarious.

But what counts for Putin is the image of Russia restored and the
bolstered notion of a president embodying a conservative bulwark
against western decadence. As Popescu puts it, the Russian president
is prepared “to spend a few billion a year on a foreign policy project
that, in his opinion, brings geopolitical benefits to his country,
as well as domestic political benefits”.

So who else may join? Armenia, which has Russian troops on the ground
and is counting on Moscow’s support in its conflict with Azerbaijan
over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, has announced plans to join shortly.

The president of Kyrgyzstan, tipped to be next on the list, has
displayed only lukewarm enthusiasm, a stance he made clear in December
2013: “Ukraine has a choice, but unfortunately we don’t have much of
an alternative.”

Moscow’s bear hug inspires fear and it has little in the way of soft
power or other attractions to compensate. At an institutional level
the EEU resembles the EU, but its workings are likely to be much more
top-down, hinging on the power and domination of Moscow. “There is
no concept of building a community in the EEU,” says Thomas Gomart,
an analyst at France’s International Relations Institute, “but given
trends in the EU, the Russians think their model is more viable.”

Introducing the EEU

Members: Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus

Prospective member: Armenia

Possible members: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan

Wooed: Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan

Population: 173 million (Russia, including Crimea, 146 million;
Kazakhstan, 17 million; Belarus, 10 million)

Total GDP: $2.4 trillion

Share of world gas reserves: 20%

Share of world oil reserves: 15%

This article appeared in Guardian Weekly, which incorporates material
from Le Monde

TURKEY DISCUSSES OCCUPATION OF KARABAKH FROM STANDPOINT OF INT’L LAW

Trend, Azerbaijan
Oct 27 2014

Project Management Association held a conference on “The occupation
of Nagorno-Karabakh from the standpoint of international law” in the
Turkish city of Bursa, said the message of the association on Oct.27.

The conference was held within the framework of the grant competition
for foreign NGOs, organized by the Council of state support of NGOs
under the president of Azerbaijan.

During the event, the chairman of the Association, Professor Cetin
Elmas spoke about the importance of the implemented project. He
regarded the occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia as a flagrant
violation of international legal principles.

Professor Hasan Tunc, executive director of the secretariat of the
Council of state support Farasat Gurbanov and others also spoke at
the conference.

Conference participants noted the importance of the resolution of
the conflict within the framework of the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan and also urged the international community to pay more
attention to this problem.

The conference was also attended by experts and representatives of
various NGOs and the mass media.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan.

As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied
20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and
seven surrounding districts.

The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs
of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the U.S. are currently
holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four U.N. Security Council resolutions
on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.

THE CHKALOV VILLAGE COMMUNITY HAS STARTED THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE WATER SUPPLY NETWORK

by Alexandr Avanesov

ARMINFO
Monday, October 27, 22:14

The Chkalov village of Lori region has a history of 250 years. One of
the most vital issues of the community is the absence of the drinking
water supply network. The only spring situated in the center of the
village, from which the villagers take water, is getting scarce.

People have to get to the spring from morning till late evening to
have water for the basic needs of the household.

According to the press service of VivaCell-MTS, propelling the personal
volunteering initiatives, VivaCell-MTS General Manager Ralph Yirikian
has donated AMD 8 200 000 from his personal funds for the construction
of the drinking water supply network in the village.

Owing to the investment 5.5 km of the 20 km-long water pipeline has
already been constructed. 74 households will become the beneficiaries
of the implemented project.

These voluntary initiatives, as stated by VivaCell-MTS General Manager,
are meant to set an example for people to follow. We as individuals
are as responsible as companies in this country. Such a commitment
is also important from the point of view of increasing the awareness
and forming a responsible attitude among the beneficiaries of the
implemented projects. The Chkalov villagers realize that drinking
water is vital resource and water efficiency derives from the sense
of responsibility towards the future generations. Moreover, the young
people constructing the water pipeline try to avoid massive logging:
In some stages of the construction they refuse using special machinery
and rely on manual work.

For years, the project of constructing a water supply network could
not be implemented because of the scarcity of the community budget.

Today, the problem of funds is solved, and the villagers’ only
concern is finishing the construction works as soon as possible. The
road from the headwater to the village center is hard to surmount,
but the inhabitants of Chkalov are excited at the thought that the
problem of drinking water will no longer bother them by winter. They
emphasize that devotion is what unites the people implementing the
project and those supporting the network construction.

VivaCell-MTS (K-Telecom CJSC) is Armenia’s leading mobile operator,
having the widest 2G/3.75G/4G network reach and spreading a wide
range of Voice and Data services all across Armenia. Having the best
of the Armenian people interest at heart since its launch on 1st July
2005 and in a short period of time VivaCell-MTS has managed to build
a nationwide network and a considerable customer base. VivaCell-MTS
drives innovation and aims at always being at the forefront of any
development serving the Armenian mobile communications market. The
company follows the guidance provided by ISO 26000 (International
Standard of Social Responsibility). For more information, visit

Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (“MTS”) is the leading telecommunications group
in Russia and the CIS, offering mobile and fixed voice, broadband,
pay TV as well as content and entertainment services in one of the
world’s fastest growing regions. Including its subsidiaries, the
Group services over 100 million mobile subscribers. The Group has
been awarded GSM licenses in Russia, Ukraine, Turkmenistan, Armenia
and Belarus, a region that boasts a total population of more than 200
million. Since June 2000, MTS’ Level 3 ADRs have been listed on the
New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol MBT). Additional information
about the MTS Group can be found at

CEMAL PASA’S GRANDSON ADVOCATES ELIMINATING NATIONALISM AND TABOO ON THE TERM “GENOCIDE” IN TURKEY

by Marianna Lazarian

ARMINFO
Monday, October 27, 22:27

In a new article, Hasan Pasa, the grandson of Cemal Pasa, one of the
Armenian Genocide organizers, touches on the topic of Armenians, Kurds
and Alawis in Turkey, who have to conceal their origin and nationality.

He stresses the need to eliminate nationalism and the taboo on the
term “genocide” in Turkey. He says that some day everybody will
recall the mutual hatred with pain. He is sure that some day, when
“the lost history” is found, the history will cease being a burden.

He says that at the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) Office
in Paris he started his speech with the question, “Have you ever been
forced to conceal your origin?”

“Journalist Ilhan Melcuk, who died 4 years ago, had to conceal the
fact that his mother was an Armenian. The same concerns another
Turkish journalist Mehmet Ali Birand. I will never forget that a
Turkish intellectual once said – Kurds in Turkey have been trying
for a long time to prove that they exist and Armenians have been
trying to prove that they were killed. This is the Turkish state”,
says Hasan Pasa in his article. He adds that he has experienced a
taboo on many words and expressions, including the term “genocide”.

A WEST-IRAN AGREEMENT WILL BE REVOLUTIONARY TO ARMENIA

Naira Hayrumyan, Political Commentator
Comments – 27 October 2014, 23:42

The Russian experts are reacting intensively to diplomatic statements
of Iranian politicians who hint that Russia is not allowing Iran and
the West to reach agreement on its nuclear program. Note that the
Iranian president Hassan Rowhani’s advisor Ali Yunesi told Iranian
press that Moscow is doing everything to slow the signing of a
comprehensive agreement between the international mediators and Iran.

Russian experts are not hiding that agreement between Iran and the
United States does not favor Moscow because it will deepen Russia’s
geopolitical blockade and isolation.

Apparently, however, the agreement between the mediators and Iran
will be signed on November 24 because Russia has no more resources
to hinder. It will change fundamentally the situation in our region
and not only.

Belarus has already set out to build relations with Iran. Last week
the Iranian foreign ministry’s delegation was in Minsk and agreed to
intensify Iran-Belarus relations.

The Armenian prime minister Hovik Abrahamyan also visited Tehran who,
nevertheless, failed to declare any specific joint project. It was only
noted that if investments are found, the construction of Iran-Armenia
railway will start next year. It has also been informed that Hovik
Abrahamyan has proposed Iran to invest in the construction of the
new Armenian NPP.

These projects are certainly unrealistic as long as there is no
“peace” agreement between Iran and the West. It may be achieved in
a month but the question is whether Russia will allow Armenia to set
up relations with Iran and whether the Armenian government will agree
to act against Moscow’s will.

The prospect of Russian investments in Armenia is growing unrealistic.

Last week it was informed that Rosneft has given up on investments
in Nairit. Moscow is not going to give money for the Iran-Armenia
railway and the new NPP. The Iranian alternative is increasingly
topical for Armenia.

If Iran agrees to make investments in the Armenian NPP, it will be a
revolution. It will not only end Russia’s energy monopoly in Armenia
but also bust stereotypes on Iran which will thus become an exporter
of nuclear technology. By the way, a lot of Armenians are participating
in the construction of the NPP of Bushair in Iran.

Turkey is trying to build its first NPP with Russia’s help. Turkey
is making efforts to hinder the construction of the new NPP reactor
in Armenia. However, it may soon appear among the countries that are
dangerous in terms of international isolation and against which Tehran
is fighting.

The Iranian president Rowhani has invited Armenia to join the fight
against terrorism. Abrahamyan’s answer is not known but obviously if
Armenia has proposed nuclear cooperation to Iran, they should also
ally against terrorism.

Agreement between the West and Iran may again bring up plans of
an Iran-Europe pipeline. “Iran is considering the Turkish route
as the optimal route of transportation of Iranian gas to Europe,”
Iran’s minister of oil Ali Majedi had announced earlier. The latter
has specified three possible routes. Besides the Turkish route, he
highlighted the pipeline to the Mediterranean running across Iraq,
Syria and Lebanon, as well as the option across Armenia, Georgia and
the Black Sea.

ASHOT MANUCHARYAN: IT IS VERY MUCH DANGEROUS AND SENSELESS TO LEAD RUSSIA TO WAR READINESS

The aggravation of the Russia-West confrontation over Ukraine and
the unprecedented intensification of the ISIL factor in the global
geopolitics have cased a lot of questions. In an interview to ArmInfo,
Ashot Manucharyan, member of the Karabakh Committee, adviser of the
first president of Armenia on national security affairs, clarifies
some real politics aspects.

by David Stepanyan

Monday, October 27, 21:35

Mr. Manucharyan, what can you say about the reasons, core and prospects
of the Ukrainian crisis?

The current crisis in the US-Russian relations has a 20-year
background. After the collapse of the Soviet Union Russia recognized
the United States as global leader and sought control only over the
post-Soviet area. In its turn, the United States kept assuring Russia
that they are close allies. But quite recently the Russians realized
that the Americans are doing nothing to support them but are just
pushing them towards an economic and scientific-educational disaster.

The crisis in Syria showed them in the Kremlin that they in the White
House do not care at all for what they think and for the first time
in the last 20 years the Russians said no to the Americans. Naturally,
the Americans decided to punish the Russians. But it was a big mistake
on their part as you can guide Russia only by cajoling it rather than
by slapping it in the face. The Americans slapped the Russians in the
face and began teaching them a lesson by means of Ukraine. In fact,
they used the Ukrainian crisis just as a weapon for purposes having
nothing to do with the Ukrainians’ hopes for better life. There are
wise people in Ukraine who were initially aware of what was happening,
but, unfortunately, this awareness has not developed into Ukraine’s
national policy.

So, what have the United States and Russia arrived at today?

The core of the present world order is the international
financial-banking system, while all that talk about the Yalta
conference is just for fooling people. The United States is the
greatest empire of the world, but this empire of dollar does not
belong to the Americans. So, it is wrong to blame the American people.

They are just used as a tool by a group of global moguls. Today lots
of people are beginning to resist this system, including certain
communities inside the United States, some nations in Latin America
and even Europe. Also in opposition are the BRICS members. But those
controlling the world system are not going to change anything. So,
we should not confuse the crisis in Ukraine with the Russian-American
conflict. The former is just a tool for the latter. The actual reason
of this confrontation is that Russia is a rebel country. But the
special thing about Russia is that it is the only nation that can
block almost any decision by the United States by just threatening
it with its nuclear arsenal. China alone is unable to do it.

At the US initiative, half of the world is currently imposing
sanctions on Russia, and the sanctions are gradually reducing the
Russian economy to the level of Soviet economy of the late 1980s.

Doesn’t Washington take into account the unpredictability of the
Russian people, who are capable of entering the Baltic states,
for instance?

Indeed, everything considered to be important in the Anglo-Saxondom
world fails in Russia. For instance, there is shortage of food in
Russia, although there has never been glut of food in this country. In
Russia people have started thinking about numerous problems, which
earlier they did not even think about. They have started understanding
that they had been deceived, and something important was replaced
with something not so much important in their mind. They have stated
understanding it just as a result of the western sanctions. About one
million Russians wish to defend Ukraine but not from the Ukrainians
but from the USA and the world order. In this context, he thinks
that it is very much dangerous and senseless to lead Russia to the
readiness to the war. I think that perhaps saving of the world is in
strengthening of Russia.

As a factor of suppression of the world financial and economic
hegemony?

Russia is currently the only force to restrain the harshest steps
of the world grabbing system. As regards Ukraine, it was used by
the United States, which was trying to subdue Europe. Today we state
that the US has failed to do it completely. Moreover, it is because
of Europe’s reluctance to obey the US that a new tool has emerged in
the world.

The Islamic State…

Yes. The United States has created the ISIL so as to be able to start
a war in any place in the world at any moment. Islamists are people
who believe that the present world order is not fair, so, you can
find them everywhere.

Today the US aviation is delivering blows on the ISIL’s positions. Has
anything changed?

Having failed to gain control over Europe by means of Ukraine, the
United States has decided to create a new global weapon, the ISIL.

Initially this weapon was meant for local campaigns in Syria, Iran
and the Greater Middle East, including Turkey, but later, when the
Americans realized that the global revolt is already covering Russia,
China and even Europe, they decided to use the ISIL for global
purposes. In fact, the West is instilling into the Muslim world a
horrible ideology of robbery and murder. The ISIL is promising Muslims
worldwide a fair world, so, any Muslim seeking justice can be regarded
as their potential member. Today the Americans are provoking a global
conflict. Today they are forcing Germany to publicly arm Kurds for
fighting Islamists but tomorrow they may use this fact to make the
Germans the ISIL’s key enemy. The Americans already have the Germans
on the ropes: whenever they wish, they may arrange an explosion or a
chemical attack in any German city, the Germans will start revenging
and this all will cause chaos in their country. Today the Americans are
actually fighting the ISIL. They first created it and then organized
the world against it. What they actually want is to provoke lots of
conflicts worldwide with the only aim to preserve the existing world
order. They have enough nuclear weapons to tame China but not Russia.

Can the format of military-political and economic alliance with
Russia ensure multilevel security of Armenia given all the specified
global threats?

Today we are an ally of Russia, who is obliged to ensure our security,
and now that we have joined the Eurasian Economic Union, also our
economic welfare. So, the biggest threat for us today is that we can
be blown up under Russia in the same way as Ukraine was blown up.

Azerbaijan can also become a bomb for Russia. Several thousands
of people who recently fled to that country from Syria may well
be advocates of the Islamic Caliphate, so, they may well be ready
to kill other people and to sacrifice their own lives. They are
different from the Azeris that fought in the Nagorno-Karabakh war,
and should they proclaimed an Islamic state somewhere in Azerbaijan,
this will have very bad consequences. Russia also has lots of Islamic
regions, so, this is also a big threat for the Russians. The conductor
of these processes is the United States, who is acting through Qatar,
Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Many of your colleagues think that the Karabakh conflict is a
potential threat of explosion of the fragile regional stability. To
all appearances, you don’t think so…

The Nagorno- Karabakh conflict can be used as a fuse but this factor
is not strong enough. I guess they in Moscow have made it clear to
Ilham Aliyev that things have changed and his old sponsors, the United
States, Israel and the United Kingdom, are already using non-waste
technologies. Sometimes even very loyal leaders end badly if they
stand in the way of the global system. I think this is what Aliyev
is mostly afraid of.

Armenian Apostolic Church of Crescenta Valley-Education Committee
6252 Honolulu Ave.
Lacrescenta, CA. 91214
Tel: 818-244-9645
E-mail: [email protected]

Dr. Haroutune Armenian will be the guest speaker on the subject of
`AUA’s Turpanjian Rural Development Program in Armenia: Lessons
Learned’ at the Armenian Apostolic Church of Crescenta Valley,
located at Western Prelacy’s “Dikran and Zarouhi Der Ghazarian” Hall, at
6252 Honolulu Ave., La Crescenta, California on Sunday, November 9, 2014
at 1pm, following the Divine liturgy, which starts at 11am.

The American University of Armenia’s Turpanjian Rural
Development Program (AUA-TRDP) provides education and economic
opportunities to people in rural areas of Armenia and the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic to encourage rural development, create jobs,
and improve communities. With the support of AUA-TRDP, rural residents
have established a variety of businesses, such as auto repair shops,
bakeries, retail stores, and Internet clubs. The program has made a
positive impact not only on economic development but also on the outlook
of rural residents.

Dr. Haroutune Armenian is Professor in residence of epidemiology at the
UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. He is also a Professor Emeritus
at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he
received his MPH and Dr.P.H. degrees (1972-4) following his M.D. from
the American University of Beirut in 1968. Dr. Armenian’s
academic and development leadership has included program development at
the Ministry of Health in Bahrain, Dean of the Faculty of Health
Sciences at the American University of Beirut, Director of the MPH
Program at the Johns Hopkins University, and Dean of the School of
Public Health at the American University of Armenia (AUA).

As President of the AUA for fourteen years, Dr. Armenian was at the
forefront of the establishment of novel educational and development
programs in Armenia and the Middle East. His awards include the Movses
Khorenatsi Presidential Medal of Service in 2001 from the Republic of
Armenia, and Presidential Medal of the Order of Cedars from the Republic
of Lebanon. Dr. Armenian has been on the central executive council of
the Armenian Church in Lebanon as well as on the central executive of
the Hamazkaine Cultural Association and the Karageuzian Foundation. He
has published over 100 scientific papers and peer reviewed chapters as
well as 20 books. In Armenia, he continues to lead the Turpanjian Rural
Development Program with over 250 businesses established in the villages
and 600 people trained in entrepreneurship. Dr. Armenian and his wife
Sona are avid mountaineers: they climbed Mount Ararat in an AUA
expedition in 2006 and in June – July 2012, they climbed Mount
Kilimanjaro in Tanzania with their son Saro. As an avid watercolor
painter, Dr. Armenian has had 5 solo exhibitions and has published 3
books of watercolor paintings. In 2014 a retrospective of his watercolor
paintings was published as part of his development on the international
marketplace.

This event, which is organized by Crescenta Valley Church Education
Committee, is free and open to the public. Please contact us at
[email protected] if you
would like to financially sponsor upcoming monthly lectures. This will
help cover the cost and sustain future activities.

BOEING 737 FLYING FROM TEHRAN TO YEREVAN MAKES EMERGENCY LANDING

19:02 | October 27,2014 | Politics

A Boeing 737 of Asiman Air flying from Tehran to Yerevan has made an
emergency landing at the Mehrabad International Airport today due to
problems with equipment, News.am reports.

Talking to the news agency, Ruben Grdzelyan, Spokesman for the Head
Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia said the plane had to return
to the airport to address the problems.

“Passengers are now flying to Armenia on another plane,” he said.