BAKU: Azerbaijani Foreign Minister: "The Nagorno Karabakh Conflict C

AZERBAIJANI FOREIGN MINISTER: “THE NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT CAN’T BE SOLVED OVERNIGHT”

APA, Azerbaijan
May 23 2014

[ 23 May 2014 11:08 ]

Baku. Ramiz Mikayiloglu – APA. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov answered the questions of the parliamentarians at the
meeting of the PACE Standing Committee in Baku, APA reports.

Touching on the decision of the European Court of Human Rights on
chairman of REAL Movement Ilgar Mammadov, Mammadyarov noted that a
judicial proceeding would be carried out within legal procedures.

Commenting on the remarks on human rights, Mammadyarov said he agrees
that it is necessary to work more on human rights in Azerbaijan:
“It is important to change the philosophy and ideas of the people. The
main thing is to start the process and I assure you that this process
has begun in Azerbaijan.”

The Foreign Minister said he believes that diplomatic means for the
resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have not been exhausted:
“Madrid suggestions were very real suggestions, we could move forward
step by step. The Nagorno Karabakh conflict can’t be solved overnight,
it is a deep-rooted conflict. The consequences of hot war should be
eliminated, and then an atmosphere of trust should be created among
the people. The most important threat is that the Armenian armed
forces are in the territories of Azerbaijan. Firstly, Armenian armed
forces must withdraw from Nagorno Karabakh and 7 adjacent regions.

Armenians have never lived in those places. Then, the communication
must be restored. This type of approach is important. Armenian armed
forces’ being in the occupied territories is an irritant action.”

ANKARA: Izmir Born French-Armenian Singer, Aznavour, Celebrates His

IZMIR BORN FRENCH-ARMENIAN SINGER, AZNAVOUR CELEBRATES HIS 90TH BIRTHDAY

Daily Sabah, Turkey
May 23 2014

Daily Sabah

ISTANBUL — Famous tenor Charles Aznavour, who has written more than
1,000 songs and about 100 records, turned 90 yesterday. The singer,
songwriter, actor and diplomat, sometimes referred to as France’s
Frank Sinatra, Aznavour is still going strong at old age and touring.

Along with his fame as a musician, which includes his versions of
Armenian songs such as “Im Yare,” he is a political activist working
to promote human rights. He is also the cofounder of the charity
named Aznavour which was formed to serve Armenians. Born in İzmir,
Aznavour has been misunderstood by both Armenians and Turks alike
and his objective stance has made him a target.

“I was first interested in the Armenian issue after the 1960s when I
was in my 40s. I wrote a song named “Ils ont tombé” to commemorate
the deceased Armenians. Turkey condemned me for this song. They drew
a red cross on my photo in newspapers,” says Aznavour and adds “I was
surprised and said, ‘Please listen to the song once only.’ I paid
attention not to refer to Turkey or Turkish people in my song.” In
various previous interviews with him, he also talks about use of
the word “genocide.” Noting the importance of recognizing historical
facts he said on many occasions that he is not bothered by Turkish
people referring to the Armenian incident as a “massacre.”

http://www.dailysabah.com/music/2014/05/23/izmir-born-frencharmenian-singer-aznavour-celebrates-his-90th-birthday

Armenia: Controversial Communist To Get Statue In Yerevan?

ARMENIA: CONTROVERSIAL COMMUNIST TO GET STATUE IN YEREVAN?

EurasiaNet.org
May 23 2014

May 23, 2014 – 12:52am, by Marianna Grigoryan

As Armenia prepares to join the Russia-led Customs Union, a surprise
decision to erect a statue in the capital Yerevan in honor of the
Soviet-era political leader Anastas Mikoian is raising hackles among
intellectuals and rights activists.

For many, Armenia-born Mikoian (1895-1978) defines the concept of a
political chameleon. He was an Old Bolshevik survivor who served “from
Ilyich until Ilyich” – from Vladimir Lenin until Leonid Brezhnev. He
lasted so long, as the Kremlin-controlled broadcaster RT put it,
by learning to walk through a rainstorm on Red Square and come out dry.

Renowned for his love of ice cream, he is credited as the father of
the Soviet Union’s processed-food industry. At the very end of his
political career, he attained the post of chairman of the presidium
of the USSR Supreme Soviet, making him the titular head of state for
a brief period during the mid-1960s.

But within Armenia, he is also reviled for his participation in
the bloodletting of the 1930s; in particular, for a 1937 letter to
dictator Joseph Stalin in which he recommends the execution of an
additional 700 “anti-Soviet” Armenians. Many complain also that he
supported Nagorno-Karabakh remaining part of Azerbaijan and disparaged
concerns about Ottoman Turkey’s 1915 massacre of ethnic Armenians.

Yerevan Mayor Taron Margarian, who on April 30 approved a City Council
decision to honor Mikoian, asserted the controversy about his past
should be “left to historians.” The city claims its decision was
based on Mikoian’s “contributions, career and revolutionary work.”

Civil-society activists, opposition politicians and cultural
figures have trouble accepting the mayor’s reasoning. “Even in my
worst nightmare, I could not imagine that there would be a proposal
to erect such a statue in independent Armenia,” said human-rights
advocate Avetik Ishkhanian, head of the Helsinki Committee of Armenia.

Ishkhanian has already pledged that he would be willing to take part
in any future attempt to demolish the statue, calling its existence
“insulting to any decent Armenian.”

As of May 22, some 450 Armenians had signed an online petition calling
on the city government to scuttle the Mikoian statue. “We believe
the activities of Anastas Mikoian and other such politicians have to
be subject to scientific research and public hearings; not to being
made heroic,” the petition reads.

The monument, a copy of the 1.70-meter-high bronze statue that adorns
Mikoian’s grave in Moscow’s Novodevichye Cemetery, will stand on
Kochar Street in downtown Yerevan. No competition was announced for
designers. The work already is underway at an unidentified Yerevan
foundry, according to local media.

Filmmaker Tigran Khzmalian, one of the signatories of the petition,
drily commented that, given Mikoian’s undisputed success with
developing canned and frozen foods, it would make greater sense to
put the statue in front of a large food-processing plant.

A statue to Mikoian in a place of prominence “is just another link
in the chain that binds us to [Moscow’s] empire,” Khzmalian said.

Political analyst Ruben Mehrabian from Yerevan’s non-profit Center
for Political and International Studies agreed. “By reviving this
Soviet-era figure, our authorities are trying to please Russia,”
he charged.

Moscow has not publicly expressed an opinion about the statue plans.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, recently has encouraged
a revival of nostalgia in Russia for the Soviet Union.

Hovhannes Sakakian, head of the parliamentary Committee on Legal
Affairs and a senior member of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia,
dismissed as “absurd” claims that Yerevan wants to use a Mikoian
statue to curry favor with Moscow. “We have been strategic partners
with Russia for ages,” Sakakian said, adding that “statues are erected
for other principles” than the need to kowtow to a foreign power.

Criticism does not come solely from within Armenia. Poland also has
objections. Archival documents show that Mikoian was among those who
signed off on the Soviet Union’s 1940 execution of 22,000 Polish army
officers in Katyn during World War II, underlined Polish Ambassador
ZdzisÅ~Baw RaczyÅ~Dski in a May 5 interview with The Armenian Times.

Expressing support for Armenian critics of the statue, he termed the
plans to honor Mikoian incomprehensible.

So far, there is no sign the city government is having second
thoughts. A spokesperson for Mayor Markarian told RFE/RL that the final
decision, which has passed to the central government, “is now beyond
our jurisdiction.” Central-government officials have not commented.

Analyst Mehrabian believes authorities, already struggling to
contain dissatisfaction with its Customs Union plans, eventually will
“backtrack on their [statue] decision.” In any case, he predicts,
the struggle against the metal Mikoian will continue. “Otherwise,
the statue will have one place where it can be – [suburban Yerevan’s]
Sovetashen garbage dump,” he said.

Editor’s note: Marianna Grigoryan is a freelance reporter based in
Yerevan and editor of MediaLab.am.

http://www.eurasianet.org/node/68400

Warlick Accused Of Siding With Armenia In Sarsang Water Dispute

AMERICAN ENVOY ACCUSED OF SIDING WITH ARMENIA IN SARSANG WATER DISPUTE

PR Newswire Europe
May 22, 2014 Thursday 5:03 PM EST

BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 22, 2014

U.S. diplomat James Warlick has been accused of siding with Aremenia
after he voiced support for Yerevan’s proposal to end the dispute
over the imperilled Sarsang Reservoir.

The dam, built by the Soviets in the 1970s, lies in Armenian-occupied
Nagorno-Karabakh and is generating concern on two fronts. Firstly, it
is in serious need of repair and threatens the lives of an estimated
400,000 Azerbaijanis downstream. Secondly, the Armenians who control
it are denying those same people its water during the parching
summer months.

Giving this hostile stance, Azerbaijan was stunned to hear Warlick
suggest in a statement on social media that Armenia could fairly
share this resource.

“This is Sarsang reservoir. It would be a positive step if the
parties were able to use the resources of water,” said Warlick,
who co-chairs the OSCE Minsk Group which is tasked with ending the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

But Elkhan Suleymanov, who heads the Association for Civil Society
Development in Azerbaijan, responded: “Mr James Warlick is sharing
his fantastic and crazy ideas”.

“Azerbaijan will cooperate neither with the aggressor state nor with
the separatist regime formed by it until the occupation is stopped,”
he added.

Suleymanov also questioned Warlick’s actions on the basis that the
Minsk group is supposed to be neutral in resolving this conflict.

He said Warlick is simply repeating the unworkable proposal first
espoused last year by the deputy prime minister of the separatist
regime, Artur Aghabekyan.

And he further charged that Warlick is attempting to influence the
special rapporteur on the Sarsang reservoir who was appointed by the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe just last week.

“I believe that Warlick’s opinions serve the deliberate aim of
influencing the investigations of the rapporteur on the Sarsang
reservoir,” Suleymanov said.

“By doing this Mr Warlick sends message to the rapporteur and PACE
members that this is an American position.”

The 76m high Sarsang reservoir holds back 12-kilometre long lake.

Azerbaijan is calling for an on-the-ground assessment of its condition
by independent engineers and hydrologists as a minimum first safety
measure.

To date these experts have been forced to rely on aerial assessments
of the dam’s condition due to Armenia’s intransigence.

Silent Dissent: Non-Government Parties Abstain From Vote On RPA Plan

SILENT DISSENT: NON-GOVERNMENT PARTIES ABSTAIN FROM VOTE ON RPA PLAN

POLITICS | 23.05.14 | 15:54

Armen Badalyan

By SARA KHOJOYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

The Republican Party of Armenia will have to proceed with their
government plan alone and take responsibility in case of errors,
because four non-government-aligned parties, as well as Orinats Yerkir,
have refused to participate.

“You can express your discontent in three ways – against, abstained
or by not voting. It’s not important which way was chosen by the
(oppositional) powers, the fact is that the new government did not
receive any support from them,” political analyst Armen Badalyan
tells ArmeniaNow.

On Thursday the parliamentary oppositional parties – Prosperous
Armenia, Heritage, Armenian Revolutionary Federation, ANC –
and OrinatsYerkir, which recently joined the political ranks of
non-government, didn’t participate in voting on the plan during
National Assembly session.

On Thursday RPA spokesman Eduard Sharmazanov told reporters that the
RPA could not force or urge non-government powers to vote for their
project, “Each political party decides separately whether to vote or
not, and how to behave.”

“We think that today is not the time to speak, to make populist
announcements, it’s the time to act, and we must turn to work,
because the public expects actions from us,” says Sharmazanov.

And even though the government asks for more time to show positive
changes in practice, the political analyst is assured that it’s
possible to control the government’s actions during that time as well.

“We cannot speak for sure here. For instance, in civilized countries
if a government fails its program, it at least either resigns or the
head of the governmental power does not take part in the following
elections.”

“In our case neither one will happen, because in Armenia actually
nothing has changed. The main power is still the Republican Party,
and the decision maker – the President,” Badalyan adds.

http://armenianow.com/news/politics/54644/republican_party_of_armenia_armenian_government_eduard_sharmazanov

Celebrations In Nor Maragha Community

CELEBRATIONS IN NOR MARAGHA COMMUNITY

Thursday, 22 May 2014 14:41

Representatives and benefactors ofHayastan All-Armenian Fund have
paid a traditional visit to Artsakh. They have got acquainted with
the Fund’s and Artsakh Government’s co-funded programs. The latter
has been completed in Martakert region’s Nor Maragha village – a new
community center has been built here.

Before the festive events, they laid flowers on the monument to the
victims of the Maragha massacre. “This is our answer to the crime of
1992 and to those skeptical today. Because Artsakh is existing and
will exist here”, said NKR National Assembly Chairman Ashot Ghulian
who had participated in the May 20 events.

Chairman of Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s Toronto branch Mkrtich
Lazarian considered it their contribution to the defense and
consolidation of the homeland, noting, “I am sure that many
participants of this event have children who are in a few kilometers
away from here, in trenches, and I kiss their hands, because they
are defending Karabakh”.

The program of building a new community center in Nor Maragha was
implemented via the cooperation between the Toronto branch of the
Fund and the Government of Artsakh. According to the decision of the
community leader, Mkrtich Lazarian was given the title of honorable
citizen of Nor Maragha.

The red ribbon was cut by the young masters of the village. The
community administration, a rest room, a medical room, a maternity
hospital are all located under a common roof. The people of the village
appreciate the gift. “Such conditions are conducive for the people
to be more dedicated to their land”, said Director of the village’s
secondary school Lyuba Grigorian.

And construction works in Askeran region’s Khantsq village are
still underway. The works are funded by the Government of Artsakh
and Armenians of Montreal. The center will be completed in a few
weeks. It will comprise the village administration, a medical room,
a game room, a library, and a celebrations hall.

This is another year of the programs’ co-sponsorship by the Fund and
the Artsakh Government. This also requires high-level quality control.

Executive Director of Hayastan All-Armenian Fund Ara Vardanian
considers this one of the important conditions for the successful
implementation of programs in Artsakh. “We have succeeded in achieving
a high level of works. And it is also reflected in the quality of
construction”, he said.

The main stage of the construction of Hayastan All-Armenian
Fund-supported community centers started in Artsakh last year. The
works have already finished in a few villages. And the entire program
will comprise about 20 communities, reported head of the NKR Office
of Hayastan All-Armenian Fund Valery Ghazarian.

Norayr HOVSEPIAN

http://artsakhtert.com/eng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1459:-celebrations-in-nor-maragha-community&catid=1:all&Itemid=1

Russia Supplies Azerbaijan T-90S 100 Tanks, Supply Of New Batch Poss

RUSSIA SUPPLIES AZERBAIJAN T-90S 100 TANKS, SUPPLY OF NEW BATCH POSSIBLE

Friday 23 May 2014 14:08
Photo:

Yerevan /Mediamax/. Russia has completed the supply of T-90S 100
tanks to Azerbaijan, supply of a new batch of tanks with the same
amount is possible.

Deputy Director of the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical
Cooperation Konstantin Birulin told ITAR-TASS.

“The entire batch of 100 tanks was already sent and completed a month
ago”, he said.

According to Birulin, besides the completed contract there is another
option of supplying T-90 tanks to Baku in the same number. “But the
second part is yet not fixed in a contract”, said the FSVTS Deputy
Director.

Birulin clarified that Moscow and Baku signed a contract on T-90S
supply in 2011. According to him, the supply of these armored vehicles
was planned a bit earlier, but a change in the dates took place –
the Russian party is not to be blamed here, but rather the delays in
payments to be made by Azerbaijan.

“But today we dispatched and got all the funds. Works on Mi-171 and
Mi-35 helicopters are still underway, we are dispatching armored
vehicles, small arms and light weapons, mortars and howitzers”,
added the FSVTS Deputy Director.

http://www.milrus.com
http://www.mediamax.am/en/news/region/10333/

ANCA: Azerbaijan’s Aliyev Full Of Irrational Hatred Against Armenian

ANCA: AZERBAIJAN’S ALIYEV FULL OF IRRATIONAL HATRED AGAINST ARMENIANS

May 23, 2014 – 11:49 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The Executive Director of Armenian National Committee
of America (ANCA) issued an open letter to all Armenians and Armenia’s
friends. Aram Hamparian’s letter slams Azerbaijan’s unceasing military
rhetoric and President Aliyev’s threats.

“”Our main enemies are the Armenians of the world!” That’s not Talaat
Pasha or Abdul Hamid talking. And these words aren’t from 1915. They
were recently spoken by Azerbaijan’s Ilham Aliyev. Baku’s oil-rich
autocrat who openly lays claim to Yerevan, pardons anti-Armenian
axe-killers, and, with his Turkish partners, is striving to isolate
Armenia and destroy Artsakh. He’s angry, full of irrational hatred
against each and every Armenian around the world. We haven’t seen a
world leader demonize an entire ethnicity like this since Nazi Germany.

And it’s not just talk. He’s backed up his threats with tens of
millions of lobbying dollars. With fatal cross-border attacks, sniper
fire, and a vast multi-billion dollar arms build-up. Aliyev spends
more on arms every year than Armenia’s entire state budget. Scary as
it may be, it’s time we took Aliyev at his word. With his allies in
Ankara, he’s out to finish the work of 1915. He’s announced his motive,
has the opportunity, and is buying the weapons,” the letter said.

“So, what stands in his way? Well, first and foremost, the brave
young men who stand guard, night and day, along the frontiers of
Armenian freedom. These soldiers are true heroes. And behind these
courageous defense forces (and their families) are the rest of
us. You and me and the 7 out of 10 Armenians who live outside our
homeland. We’re the Second Army of the Armenian nation–in many ways,
our homeland’s first line of defense. But, like any army, we need our
people’s support–the resources, financial and otherwise–to sustain
and strengthen our advocacy.

We are not called upon to make the sacrifices of soldiers, who put
their lives on the line every day. But, make no mistake, the stakes
for Armenia are just as high. Armenians worldwide, inspired by the
Hai Tahd movement, truly play a vital role in protecting our homeland
and promoting our rights.

Today our activism is more crucial than ever. Our nation is calling
to us, as she has so often before. Recall the words of our great poet
Yeghishe Charents: “Oh! Armenian People, Your Salvation Lies Only in
Your Collective Power.”

Charents was right then, and his wise words still echo in our hearts.

In this timeless spirit of common service to our greater cause, let us,
as proud sons and daughters of a united nation, rally to the call of
our homeland,” the letter said.

“None of us can do everything, but each of us should do something. And
a great place to start is by being part of ANCA Telethon 2014. This
is, very simply, the devotion we owe to our past. The determination
we owe to our future. And the sacred debt we owe to ourselves. With
your enduring faith and continued support, we can fight on all the
fronts of the Armenian Cause:

Securing Armenian Genocide recognition and reparations; strengthening
Armenia, creating jobs, reversing out-migration, fighting corruption,
fostering democracy, growing the U.S.-Armenia economic relationship,
and building Homeland-Diaspora consensus and cooperation around
our shared national ideals; defending and supporting the status and
security of the independent Republic of Nagorno Karabagh, pushing
back against Azerbaijani aggression, and fighting the growing power of
anti-Armenian lobbies here in America; maintaining Armenian identity
and culture in our diaspora, by engaging and inspiring our youth and
encouraging civic activism, and by protecting our communities in the
Middle East by ensuring the delivery of international humanitarian
relief to our at-risk communities,” Hamparian concluded.

http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/179161/

Maronite Cardinal Brings Controversy To Pope’s Jerusalem Visit

MARONITE CARDINAL BRINGS CONTROVERSY TO POPE’S JERUSALEM VISIT

May 23, 2014 5:10 pm

By John Reed in Jerusalem

©AFP

When Pope Francis arrives in Jerusalem on Sunday during his three-day
visit to the Holy Land, another guest will join him on a less-noted,
but wholly unprecedented and politically charged visit: the Patriarch
of Lebanon’s Maronite Catholic church.

Cardinal Mar Beshara Boutros Rai will be the first leader of the
church – which claims 1m adherents in the Middle East and millions
more overseas – to visit Israel since its founding in 1948. Israel
has no relations with Lebanon and officially regards its northern
neighbour as an enemy state.

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Patriarch Rai is making the trip to Jerusalem despite sharp criticism
from Hizbollah, the militant group which is a dominant political force
in Lebanon, and others who oppose breaking the diplomatic cordon around
Israel because of its occupation of Palestinian lands seized in1967.

Ibrahim Amin al-Sayed, head of Hizbollah’s political
council, said last week that the trip carried “risks and
drawbacksâ~@~I.â~@~I.â~@~I.â~@~Iin terms of repercussions at the
level of Lebanon and of the Israeli entity.”

Lebanon and Israel do not allow their citizens to visit each other’s
countries; under Lebanese law citizens who do go can be charged
with treason.

“Doesn’t modern technology, such as Skype, provide means to communicate
with the imprisoned flock without having to go through the oppressive
jailer?” a group of Lebanon-based activists who favour boycotting
Israel wrote to the cardinal in an open letter published on May 5.

Explaining his visit, the Maronite patriarch said that because the
leader of the Roman Catholic communion was going to the Holy Land and
Jerusalem – a diocese of the Maronite church – “it’s normal that the
patriarch should welcome him”.

However, in a concession to the delicacy surrounding the visit,
Patriarch Rai will not meet any Israeli officials, nor is Israel’s
government commenting on it.

Cardinal Rai will not be part of the Pope’s official delegation,
but will arrive with him in the Palestinian city of Bethlehem from
Amman for mass on Sunday.

He will be one of several eastern Catholic patriarchs accompanying the
Pope on some or all stations of his visit, including the head of the
Greek, Chaldean, Syrian, Coptic, and Armenian rites. In Jerusalem the
Pope will meet Bartholomew, Patriarch of Constantinople, at the church
of the Holy Sepulchre, the centrepiece of a visit meant to showcase
reconciliation between the Catholic and Orthodox Christian communions.

Pope Francis will also on Monday visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust
remembrance centre and lay a wreath at the tomb of Theodor Herzl,
the founder of Zionism – a move that Palestinian activists have
criticised as a “whitewash” of the occupation. Cardinal Rai will not
join him there.

Israel has about 10,000 Maronite Christians, about three-quarters of
whom lived there before the founding of the Jewish state. The remaining
2,500 were affiliated with the Israeli-sponsored south Lebanon army
and left when Israeli troops evacuated the country in 2000.

Members of the community are delighted about the cardinal’s arrival.

“Our brother Muslims can go from Israel to Mecca to make the hajj –
more than 10,000 go there every year – but we Maronites cannot go to
Lebanon,” says Sobhy Makhoul, chancellor of the Maronite patriarchate
in Jerusalem, who is coordinating the church leader’s visit to Israel.

“If we can’t go there, he can come to us.”

After the Pope’s return to Rome on Monday, Patriarch Rai will visit
Maronite communities in Galilee and other Israeli cities.

The trip will include a stop in Bar Am, the site of a Christian
village near the Lebanese border destroyed by Israeli forces in 1953.

The village’s uprooted residents, who appealed their eviction and later
won an Israeli Supreme Court ruling, were never allowed to return to
the site of their homes, where a national park and kibbutz now stand.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/61bcc59e-e26a-11e3-89fd-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz32YhqA4OP

HAAF delegation visits project sites in Armenia’s Tavush Region

PRESS RELEASE
Hayastan All-Armenian Fund
Governmental Building 3, Yerevan, RA
Contact: Hasmik Grigoryan
Tel:? +(3741) 56 01 06? ext. 105
Fax: +(3741) 52 15 05
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

Yerevan, May 23, 2014

Hayastan All-Armenian Fund delegation visits project sites in Armenia’s
Tavush Region

On May 23, the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund delegation tasked with reporting
on various ongoing and completed projects visited project sites in the
villages of Khachardzan, Lusadzor, and Ditavan, all in Armenia’s Tavush
Region. The delegation, led by Executive Director Ara Vardanyan and
consisting of benefactors, trustees, and representatives of affiliates
worldwide, had completed a four-day site-visit mission in Artsakh on May 22.

In Khachardzan, which has a population of almost 400, the delegation visited
a facility comprising a medical center and a multifunctional community
events hall, built through the sponsorship of the Kalciyan family of
Argentina. Also within the framework of the project, the facility has been
provided with furniture and kitchen equipment.

“Thanks to this project, our residents will be able to receive quality
healthcare at a state-of-the-art clinic, only in acute emergency cases
having to be transported to a regional hospital,” said Gagik Shahnazaryan,
the mayor of Khachardzan. As he went on to enumerate the core issues which
continue to impact his community’s quality of life, Shahnazaryan said the
most critical is the lack of a potable-water network.

In Lusadzor, the delegation visited a farm that has been established with
the support of the fund’s French affiliate. Through this project, local
farmers have been provided with a total of 180 heifers, imported from
Denmark and Switzerland. Lusadzor, which has close to 700 residents, is also
the site of three other completed projects: a potable-water network, an
irrigation network, and a community center. These initiatives have been
implemented by the United Nations Development Program with the financial
support of the Italian government and within the framework of the Hayastan
All-Armenian Fund’s Rural Development Program.

The delegation’s last stop was Ditavan, which has a population of 300. The
village is home to five greenhouses, established for as many families
through the financial support of the Kalciyan family. Hrach Alikhanyan, one
of the beneficiaries of the project, said that he has had a productive first
year thanks to his greenhouse, where he grows tomatoes, beans, garlic,
strawberries, and greens, and that he expects to have a good harvest soon.
Ditavan is also the site of several major development projects which have
been implemented through the ongoing support of benefactors Mr. and Mrs.
Armen and Nadia Ekserciyan of Argentina. These projects comprise
potable-water and gas networks, a community center, and a school.

http://www.himnadram.org/