Author: Kajoyan Gevork

CLIMBING CONCERN FOR THE CAUCASUS CLIMATE

Truth Dig
June 21 2013

By Kieran Cooke, Climate News Network

This piece first appeared at Climate News Network.

THE ARARAT VALLEY, ARMENIA-It happened as Tigran Gasparian and his
family were having lunch. A massive black cloud turned day to night
in minutes. Then the hail hammered on the roof.

“It was deafening”, says Tigran. “I’ve never seen anything like it.

The winds swirled around – like a tornado. It went on for 45 minutes.

At the end the hail was falling in big pieces like bits of broken
glass. We knew all our crops had been destroyed.”

Farmers here have heard talk of climate change: many say the summers –
when temperatures can reach near to 40C – are becoming hotter while
winters are getting colder.

“Maybe the climate is changing” says Anoosh, Gasparian’s wife. “Or
maybe the hail was sent by God as punishment for the way our country
is chopping down its forests and destroying its landscape.”

Armenia, a small country in the South Caucasus region with a population
of a little over three million, is highly dependent on its agriculture
and is famous for its fruits and herbs. Agriculture accounts for
about 20% of gross domestic product.

Cut to shreds

Most of the country’s 340,000 farms are relatively small with plots
of one hectare or less: there is little spare cash to fall back on
when crops fail.

“Our apricots, peaches, watermelons, and tomatoes were cut to shreds
” says Tigran. “Usually we’d harvest about 35 tonnes of grapes –
this year we’ll be lucky if we have 50 kilos.”

The Gasparian land is in the Ararat Valley, about an hour and a half’s
drive from Yerevan, Armenia’s capital. Sitting under the shade of
cherry trees – a cuckoo calling in the distance and the snow capped
peak of Mount Ararat in Turkey on the horizon – it is, in many ways,
a perfect pastoral scene.

But life here is tough. Produce has to be taken along badly potholed
roads to the capital. Armenia, till 1991, was part of the old Soviet
Union. For many farmers, adjusting to a market economy has not been
easy. Many are leaving the land: both the Gasparian’s sons – now in
their twenties – are going soon to jobs in Russia.

“With our crops destroyed, there is nothing for us here” says one.

Changing weather

There are often hailstorms in Armenia and throughout the rugged and
mountainous Caucasus region but the ferocity of this one – happening
in mid May when crops were just coming to life – was highly unusual.

Armenia is a mountainous country with a generally arid climate and is
judged to be particularly vulnerable to changes in climate. Zaruhi
Petrosyan is a meteorologist at Armenia’s Ministry of Emergency
Situations.

“Usually hailstorms last for only five or seven minutes” she says.

“This was a very strange meteorological phenomenon. There are changing
weather patterns in some regions but just how significant these are
is difficult to estimate.”

Mrs Petrosyan says while calculations are changing all the time,
Armenia is likely to see temperatures rise by between one and four
degrees centigrade by century’s end though average rainfall is likely
to drop by six per cent.

But international bodies predict a far greater degree of change.

A report in 2009 by the Stockholm Environment Institute together with
the United Nations Development Programme talked of “enormous” changes
in Armenia’s climate over the next century, with likely increases in
temperatures of 4.5 C in the lowlands and 7C in the highlands by 2100.

Water supplies – already a serious problem in many areas – are likely
to come under increased strain as rainfall decreases, said the report,
causing agricultural production to fall by nearly 10%.

Money to Survive

Vardan Hambardzumyan is president of the Armenian Federation of
Agricultural Associations.

“We are fully aware how climate change will affect agriculture” he
says. “We have to safeguard our water and land resources: we have to
protect our forests. Armenia plays a very small role in the problem
of climate change – but that doesn’t mean we should be ignorant of
its impacts.”

Hambardzumyan says there’s a need to develop new seeds to resist rising
temperatures and to use cattle better able to withstand the heat.

“We also need innovative technology – and help from international
organisations.”

Meanwhile the farmers in the Ararat Valley who lost their crops due
to the freak hailstorm are insisting that the government gives them
financial support.

“We don’t live in luxury” says one farmer. “All we’re asking for is
money to survive through the year.”

Another farmer points to one of his prize cherry trees: “Usually I’d
get a hundred kilos from this tree. My cherries were famous. People
would queue up for them. This year I’ll maybe get a couple of buckets.

The rest go to the pigs – and even they are fed up and don’t eat them.”

ARMENIA: HOW TO MAINTAIN MULTI-VECTOR INTEGRATION?

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
June 20 2013

Leonid Vardomsky, the head of the Center of Post-Soviet Studies of the
RAS Institute of Economy

Armenia, like the majority of post-Soviet countries, tries to provide
a multi-vector foreign policy. It is explained by a complicated
geopolitical situation in the country, first of all, the unsettled
Karabakh problem and the vast geography of the Armenian Diaspora.

Among economic reasons of the multi-vector nature there is a limited
internal market, overload of labor resources under a deficit of
capital and technologies. As the result Armenia significantly depends
on foreign outlet markets of its products and on foreign demand on its
labor resources. At the same time, the country cannot fully use the
factor of big marketing area within the CIS because of the transport
blockade and high transport expenses on transiting through Georgia
or Iran.

On the other hand, Armenia takes one of top places among new
independent states on institutional conditions of business providing.

Evaluating the business climate of 185 countries, the World Bank
registered the shift of Armenia in the Doing Business Rating from
the 50th place in 2011 to the 32nd place in 2012. However, progress
of market institutions doesn’t bring necessary socio-economic effect
without access to foreign markets.

The European vector

Armenia was one of the first countries in the CIS to join the WTO in
2003 for an extension of cooperation with the EU. It led to a decrease
of Georgian traffic rates. In 2004 Armenia joined the European policy
of neighborhood; in 2009 in the context of the global financial crisis
it became a member of the Eastern Partnership. In 2010 Armenia was
offered signing the agreement on association which included an article
on a deep and all-round free trade area. The aim of the agreement is
political association and gradual economic integration into the EU.

>From this point of view the EU market is the greatest for Yerevan:
in 2011 45.5% of Armenian export referred to the EU countries, and
only 20.1% – to the CIS countries, including the Customs Union –
17.3% and Russia – 16.6%.

The road map for Armenia adopted in 2012 within the Eastern Partnership
speeded up preparation for the agreement on Association with the EU.

The Eurasian (Russian) vector

Intensification of cooperation in the Eastern Partnership is taking
place in the context of Russia’s growing integration efforts in the
sphere of the Customs Union within EurAsEU and the all-round free
trade area in the CIS (Armenia joined the area in September 2012). In
general Armenia’s integration policy is determined by an opportunity
of simultaneous participation in the free trade areas with the CIS
and the EU countries, like Ukraine.

The Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sarkisyan said in an interview
with the Latvian newspaper Neatkarigas Rita Avize that he shared
the view of Russian President Vladimir Putin that the process of
integration of the CIS and the European Union cannot be contrasted,
they should be considered as mutually complementary: “Armenia
has the same position. We appreciate and want to develop mutually
beneficial trade and economic contacts with the EU countries… We
took responsibilities on launching the EU standards in economy and
we won’t reject this plan.”

The common view of the Armenian elite is that cooperation within the
Eastern Partnership and the association with the EU will enable to
establish a modern state, while cooperation with Russia will provide
the country’s security.

At the same time, either Russia or the EU asks Armenia to make an
integration choice because according to some European representatives,
the association with the EU and the deep free trade area don’t match
the Customs Union.

Can the multi-vector course be maintained?

Armenia like other countries of the CIS which are not members of the
Customs Union has found itself in a difficult situation. Improvement
of the Eurasian vector means rejection of the familiar multi-vector
model for Armenia which has many international treaties and duties
and has developed the strategy of the foreign political activity for
the near future.

Considering the reaction of the country’s leadership, it is not ready
to change the developed course.

Expert Andrey Areshev thinks that it “can be explained not only
by counter-offers from Washington and Brussels (which are rather
declarative and abstract), but also by absence of conceptual clearness
in the Eurasian integration union.”

RESIDENTS LIVING IN THE SHADOW OF SARSANG RESERVOIR TELL OF THEIR FEARS

Sacramento Bee, CA
June 19 2013

By Azerbaijan Monitor
Published: Wednesday, Jun. 19, 2013 – 12:07 am

BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 19, 2013 — /PRNewswire/ —

The Government of Azerbaijan has begun to catalogue the personal fears
of its people living downstream from the imperiled Sarsang Reservoir
– the structure revealed by engineers and hydrologists to be in
“emergency condition” following years of neglect by occupying Armenia.

The 125 metre high dam, which holds back a 12 kilometre long lake,
was seized by Armenian troops during the Nagorno-Karabakh war with
Azerbaijan more than two decades ago. It is now well overdue for
essential maintenance, prompting experts to create models of what
might happen if it fails.

They have pointed out that more than 400,000 people in six downstream
provinces are at risk. As a result, the concerns of those affected
– both inside Armenian occupied Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan –
are finally being made public.

Elshan Huseynov lives in Barda city, which say engineers would be
hit by a wall of water moving at between 100km/h to 200km/h within
45 minutes of the dam collapsing.

“When this dam was built (in the 1970s) we at least knew it was being
looked after but once I found out how the Armenians have failed to
look after it, I became worried for my family,” he said.

“In this region alone we’re told the flood would result in 20,000
hectares underwater. There will be nowhere for us to go.”

Engineers say the flood would arrive in the Tartar region in just 20
to 25 minutes, something that worries resident Hajar Yusif Yusifzade.

“In Azerbaijan-controlled territory they are coming up with new
evacuation plans but that doesn’t help us here (in Armenian-occupied
Nagorno-Karabakh). No one cares about our homes and families. We’re
on our own,” he said.

Others contacted say that while they are naturally worried about the
Sarsang Reservoir, they welcome the fact that it is pushing their
plight back into the international spotlight.

“The world has forgotten about us,” said Xalis Xalilov from Havarli.

“If this is what it takes to make the world take note again, then so
be it.”

The Government of Azerbaijan has announced its “Prevention of Sarsang
Humanitarian Danger” strategy to deal with the possibility of the dam’s
collapse, which involves highlighting the problem within the United
Nations, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers and
the OSCE – bodies that have all passed resolutions against Armenia’s
occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh.

TURKEY DOOMED TO COLLAPSE?

Pravda, Russia
June 20 2013

20.06.2013
Araik Stepanyan
Pravda.Ru

Is this a chain reaction or mass epidemic? Either way, the fact
remains – the political upheavals in the Muslim world that began
in Tunisia swept across North Africa and Syria, and now a wave of
instability has reached Turkey. A member of the Presidium of the
Academy of Geopolitical Issues Araik Stepanyan analyzed this complex,
ambiguous situation in the country.

“We will identify the external and internal factors that have caused,
for the lack of a better word, social unrest in Turkey.

Internal factors have deep roots. The main reason is the collapse of
the Ottoman Empire after the First World War and the Turkish Republic
established by the “father of the Turks” Kemal Ataturk. He decided
to raise the status of the ethnic Turks that was low in the Ottoman
Empire, turning them into an overriding ethnic group and create a
political nation – the Turks.

In 1926, a law was passed stating that all residents of Turkey
were ethnic Turks, and different names – the Kurds, Armenians, Laz,
Circassian, and so on – were insulting to the Turkish national identity
and must not be used. Everybody was recorded as Turks. And, although
many years have passed, the first problem in Turkey is a problem of
national identity.

There is a huge mass of people, more than half of today’s Turkish
population, who do not consider themselves Turks. They see themselves
as citizens of Turkey, but ethnically they do not identify themselves
with the Turks, and do not want to. But because they live in the
country where they have to be Turks to have a chance for a career,
they are considered Turks. In 2000-2002, Western funds conducted a
secret survey of the Turkish population and obtained evidence that
only 37 percent of all Turkey residents saw themselves as ethnic
Turks. The national issue has aggravated, and rallies and slogans
are convincing evidence.

The second internal factor that undermines today’s Turkey is a debate
about the type of the government – secular or theocratic. The elite of
modern Turkey have serious disagreements about this. The heirs of the
Ottoman Empire believe that the highest level of prosperity in Turkey
was in the days of the Ottoman Empire, where all citizens were equal,
except for Christians, and ethnicity was not emphasized. That means,
people were Osman regardless of the ethnicity – the Turks, Circassian,
or Kurds.

The secular government afraid of Islamic influence is holding to
the legacy of Kemal Ataturk. This is the army general staff who
until recently served as the guarantor of the Constitution by the
secular power. But Erdogan came to power and abolished that item of
the Constitution. Incidentally, this is a revolutionary step, and
can be compared with the constitution of the Soviet Union whose sixth
article stated that the Communist Party was the governing body of the
Soviet state. Once it was removed, the state has collapsed. Eliminating
his “sixth paragraph,” Erdogan dealt a crushing blow to the General
Staff and the army. Naturally, the army is very unhappy and wants to
overthrow Erdogan, although it is not directly involved in the rallies.

Third internal factor is the Kurdish issue. The Kurds are seeking
autonomy in Eastern Anatolia (the largest region of Turkey), their
number is approximately 20 million. Despite the talks started by
Erdogan (negotiations with Barzani, president of the Kurdish autonomy
in northern Iraq, and Ocalan, the PKK leader) armed clashes between
Kurdish rebels and the official Turkish army continue, with daily
casualties on both sides. Thus, this is the third most important
factor.

The fourth factor is the Armenian issue. Armenians living in the
south-eastern and eastern Anatolia, the original Armenian territories
of Western Armenia, have, so to speak, their hidden aspirations. They
are hidden because they have bitter experience of being eliminated
and thrown out. The Turkish elite, the intelligentsia, too, in turn,
realizes that it is impossible not to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

About three thousand Turkish intellectuals on Turkish websites
apologized to the Armenians for the Genocide and eviction. Then
there was football diplomacy with signing the agreement on opening
the border between Turkey and Armenia. The Armenians are now fighting
with diplomatic methods.

Turkish demographic policy denies all other nationalities. Turkey
strongly advocates that 82 percent of the population is Turks. But
for obvious reasons this is not the case. There is a vast array of
Greek Muslims who do not even speak the Turkish language and as many
Bulgarian Muslims.

There are Armenians who speak Kurdish, Armenians who speak Turkish
and Armenians who speak the Armenian dialect. But the state considers
them all Turks. This is not the case, but a reason to oppose the
government in one form or another.

The fifth factor is internal – it’s Alawites, a religious movement
with millions of people who adhere to the same religious beliefs as
Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian Alawi. When I see banners proclaiming
“Erdogan, you are a thief!” I understand that these are Alawites. In
the course of combat activities in Syria, Aleppo in particular,
gunmen took out everything – from machines to museum exhibits, and
exported them to Turkey, with the connivance of the authorities,
and sold or appropriated them.

But Gezi Park or Taksim Square where rallies are held now is a special
topic that overlaps, incidentally, with the Armenian issue.

First, in 1500 sultan Suleiman presented this territory to his Armenian
assistant who uncovered a conspiracy. In 1560, an Armenian cemetery
was laid there. The cemetery existed until late 19th century and was
eliminated after a well-known cholera epidemic, but the ownership was
left to the Armenian community. After the genocide in 1915, when the
Armenians were expelled, the owner clearly changed.

Barracks were built there, then a park. When the authorities planned to
build a shopping center, the community exploded. All ethnic minorities,
anti-globalization activists, gays, lesbians, football fans, the
“green” joined against the destruction of the park. Clearly, everyone
had different views and goals, but the only reason was rejection of
the current government that none of these social groups liked. Yes,
individually they are in the minority, but this is the case where the
sum of minorities produces the majority, incidentally, in contrast
to Russia.

There is also an external factor. The U.S. lost interest in Turkey
after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Turks tried to start
building a new Turkic empire, the so-called Great Turan based on
pan-Turkism, but the Turkic-speaking states, newly formed in the
Soviet Union, gave the initiative a cold shoulder despite the extent
of the economic expansion of Turkey in these regions is impressive.

The U.S. does not really support these imperial ideas. Especially when
Turkey did not provide its territory for ground operations during the
recent war in Iraq, did not let the American ships into the Black Sea
during the Russian-Georgian conflict in 2008, incidentally, rightly
so, in accordance with the international status of the Black Sea and
the Bosporus and the Dardanelles.

The White House is beginning to move away from its ally. Moreover,
according to the plan of a military expert Ralph Peters of the National
Military Academy of the United States, in accordance with the concept
of the Greater Middle East, Turkey is disintegrated. A large Kurdistan
is created, and Mount Ararat goes to Armenia. Most important task,
of course, is to take control of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles,
close access for Russia to the Mediterranean Sea, and so on. The
U.S. has a clear plan and is implementing it. The European Union,
of course, agrees with this plan.

America will not save Erdogan despite the fact that he supported the
Muslim extremists against Assad. Only Assad is winning, and Turkey
has lost its authority with the nearby neighbors. It is likely to face
open hostility, because no one has forgotten the Ottoman Empire or the
imperial motives of the Turkish foreign policy. Turkish leaders have
painted themselves into a geopolitical trap. There are still chances
of getting out of it, but, judging by Erdogan’s recent statements,
they are becoming slimmer every day.

All of these factors combined lead Turkey to a collapse. It will not
happen overnight, but the trend is moving in this direction. All mass
movements just show the causes, both external and internal. Therefore,
even if the military who wants to overthrow Erdogan comes to power,
and the constitution and the role of the General Staff is restored,
it will be impossible to stop the process of globalization and crush
the rebellion of ethnic groups.

Los Angeles Times, CA
June 22 2013

War in Syria challenges the Armenian diaspora

For the 70,000 Armenians living in Syria, survival is an effort rooted
in history.

By Brittany Levine, [email protected]
June 22, 2013 | 12:38 p.m.

To understand why Zaven Khanjian wants the Armenian community in Syria
– a dwindling population caught in the crossfire of civil war – to
endure, you have to go back nearly a century.

Long before in-fighting began more than two years ago, Armenians
settled in Syria after being driven out of Turkey during the genocide
of 1915.

Destitute and sick, the Christians were welcomed by the mostly Arabic
Syrians and flourished, especially in Aleppo, a city close to the
Turkish border and hard hit by war between rebel forces and the
sitting government.

“We want the community to survive as long as the war is going on,”
Khanjian, a Glendale real estate agent and Aleppo native, who leads
the nonprofit Syrian Armenian Relief Fund, said.

But while many Armenians may feel indebted to Syria – a country that
welcomed them when they were at their lowest point – thousands
continue to flee amid an increase in the number of kidnappings and
reported damage to homes and churches.

Even an Armenian genocide memorial has been ransacked, said Lena
Bozoyan, chairwoman of the Armenian Relief Society of Western USA’s
executive board.

Humanitarian aid is the primary goal, but there’s also a deeper desire
to prevent an Armenian community with historical significance from
disintegrating completely.

“The dwindling of the community in Syria will have a detrimental,
long-term impact for the cultural vibrancy of the diaspora as a
whole,” said Ara Sanjian, director of the Armenian Research Center at
the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

But the effort to preserve the diaspora in Syria is increasingly
difficult as fighting rages on, especially in Aleppo, which claims the
largest Armenian population. Most Armenians with roots there are known
to be loyal to the current regime, but Khanjian said philanthropic
efforts out of Glendale are apolitical.

The U.S. recently announced plans to bolster support of the rebels
after determining that the Syrian regime had used chemical weapons
against its own people.

The Syrian Armenian Relief Fund, launched last year in partnership
with Glendale-based Armenian Relief Society and other Armenian
philanthropic groups, has sent $500,000 in assistance to struggling
Syrian-Armenians. Organizers raised another $100,000 at a benefit
concert in Hollywood two weeks ago.

The money is sent to a coalition of Armenian nonprofits in Syria that
doles out food, clothing, construction materials for damaged
buildings, and medical care to the needy. During Armenian Christmas in
January, the group dispersed cash to about 5,000 families, Khanjian
said.

Before the fund started, the Armenian Relief Society had already
collected $100,000 for Armenian schools.

But there are some things the fund won’t pay for, such as relocation costs.

“We want our people to stay there,” Bozoyan said.

Population estimates vary, but Sanjian, of the Armenian Research
Center, said that before the conflict began, there were about 70,000
Armenians in Syria, 70% of them in Aleppo. Armenian news agencies have
reported that more than 10,000 have fled to Lebanon and Armenia, but
some estimates peg the exodus as being almost twice that.

Syria’s 22.5 million people are 90% Arab, with Kurds, Armenians and
others making up the rest of the population, according to the CIA
World Factbook. Armenian is widely understood in the country, although
it’s a different dialect than what’s spoken in Armenia – a hurdle for
incoming refugees.

While the Armenian government has adopted several measures to ease the
transition – such as permitting Syrian drivers licenses – the country
is struggling economically and many Syrian-Armenians yearn to return
home, Khanjian said.

But home continues to be plagued by stray bullets, power blackouts and
kidnappings, some of which reverberate even here in Glendale.

At St. Gregory Armenian Catholic Church in Glendale, the congregation
– many of whom are Aleppo natives – pray at Mass for a Catholic priest
who was kidnapped five months ago. Who took the priest is unclear,
said Fr. Antoine Noradounghian, also from Aleppo.

“Everybody is telling you something different,” he said.

Kevork Krajian, a Glendale resident and doctor who moved here from
Aleppo about nine months ago, said for a while the war hadn’t
encroached on his hometown, until one day, an 80-year-old man came
into his radiology office.

The man had been drinking coffee on his balcony when an object fell
from the sky, puncturing his back. Krajian couldn’t take an X-ray
because the electricity was out, but the man refused to go to another
doctor.

When power was restored, the X-ray showed a stray bullet had punctured
the man’s right lung. He survived, but others weren’t so lucky. One of
Krajian’s friends died after a piece of shrapnel tore through his
stomach, kidney and spleen while walking to work.

Already U.S. citizens, Krajian, his wife and two sons – one of whom
has autism – were able to quickly flee the violence. They had lived in
Glendale for seven years prior to moving back to Aleppo in 2009 with
dreams of starting an autistic school in Syria.

That dream was quashed after the building he planned to use for the
school, his parent’s summer home, fell under an area controlled by
rebel forces.

Despite being unemployed, Krajian said he is happy to start a new life
in Glendale, but is heartsick about the people he left behind.

“How can you not be sad or upset?” he said. “Our stability is gone.”

Deutsche Welle, Germany
June 21, 2013 Friday 10:24 AM EST

Turkish textbooks under fire in German schools

Education experts in Germany have called for a ban on some textbooks
issued by Turkish authorities for use in German schools. They fear the
books have a biased view of history.

Swearing an oath to the Turkish motherland is a normal part of school
life in Turkey. In German classrooms, however, it is causing a stir.
“It’s my goal to protect the young, honor the aged and love my country
and motherland more than myself.”

It is a quote from the “Türkce ve Türk Kültürü” (“Turkish and Turkish
culture”) textbook that many teachers in Germany are using to teach
pupils in Germany of Turkish origin in Turkish.

It was specifically issued by the Ministry for National Education of
the Republic of Turkey in Ankara for use abroad. The Turkish
consulates in Germany sent the books out to all Turkish teachers in
Germany, claiming that there simply wasn’t a better choice that could
be used everywhere.

At odds with teachers in Germany

But that’s not so, said Hassan Taschkale, who is responsible for
multicultural politics at the Education and Science Union in the
western state of North Rhine-Westphalia. “There is sufficient and very
good material out there, that’s why I’m not using these books,” he
explained.

“It seems the government in Turkey is trying to impose its rituals on
German-Turkish students, too,” he claimed.

The contentious textbooks have primarily been used in North
Rhine-Westphalia, as teachers there are free to use additional
material that is not normally included in the curriculum.

After many schools complained about the textbooks’ content, the union
has called for the books to be banned.

The group said it fears the texts are too nationalistic and, in
places, present a skewed view of history. The state’s School Ministry
is investigating those claims.

A right to Turkish culture and language?

The Turkish Embassy in Germany would not comment on the commotion
surrounding the textbooks, instead pointing out Germany’s policy of
not recognizing dual citizenship. “The people between the ages of 18
and 23 who chose Turkish citizenship regrettably lose their German
citizenship according to German law,” the embassy said. “If you look
at these young people as future Turkish citizens, then it is their
right to get to know their culture and langauge.”

Accusations of altering history

The third volume of the textbook says that Armenians joined the
Russians and English in 1915 and tried to weaken the Ottoman Empire.
According to the text, the Armenians contractually agreed to give up
their lands after the First World War. There is, however, no mention
in the book of the expulsion and murder of up to 1.5 million
Armenians.

“What is cited about the genocide is a real problem,” said Barbara
Christophe of the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook
Research, adding that she was not surprised as the book represents the
same view of events taken by textbooks in Turkey.

While Christophe said it was good the book touched on the conflict
with Armenians, which had been completely denied by school texts as
late as the 1990s, she said it was done in an unacceptable manner.
“This is naturally a representation that one cannot consent to,”
Christophe said.

She also said Germany sets a standard for its history textbooks that
is not comparable to other countries. Due to its Nazi history, Germans
are particularly careful about the presentation of historical context.
Christophe said school kids in Germany are always informed about
history’s ethical dimensions in addition to factual data published in
history books. This often means students believe they have adequately
addressed a given topic and do not need to grapple with it personally.
“That leads kids to think that what they are learning has nothing to
do with them,” Christophe said.

She had a more positive view of British textbooks, “They try to show
the historical dilemmas and create an understanding for how a person
acted at a certain point in history.” Such an approach to history
could be an example for Turkish textbooks, Christophe added.

German textbooks exclude migrants

When it comes to integration, the textbook expert said German school
books are less than satisfying. Christophe participated in a study of
the presentation of migrants and migration in German textbooks where
she said she found outdated views.

“There are phrases that exclude children with foreign heritage,” she
said. “Sentences like ‘the Muslims are people who need our
understanding’ can still be found today in German textbooks.”

That was one reason Christophe said discussions about the
controversial Turkish textbooks should not only point the finger at
Turkey but also look at how integration can be improved here in
Germany. Banning the books from being used, she said, would send the
wrong signal.

DW.DE

Yerevan square reconstruction plan attracts architects

17:51 – 22.06.13

The plan for redesigning and modernizing Yerevan’s Republican Square
has turned out to be of interest to over a dozen of architects who
have expressed willingness to work on the project.

Speaking to Tert.am, a spokesperson for Yerevan’s chief architect
Narek Sargsyan said some of them have applied to the City Hall for
obtaining copies of the project proposal.

`June 20 is the deadline for submitting the bids; by September 20, the
jury is set to sum up the proposals,’ Anahit Yesayan told our
correspondent, without giving further details.

The bid, announced by the municipality in late May, initially stirred
up discontent among architects (including the Union of Architects’
president). who protested against the initiative.

Sashur Kalashyan, a merited Armenian architect, had earlier expressed
concerns that the project, if realized, would lead to the capital
city’s eventual destruction.

The chief architect’s spokesperson did not say anything about the
applicants of the project, saying that she isn’t aware of any names.

Armenian News – Tert.am

Landslide at Armenian mountain pass

June 22, 2013 | 11:10

YEREVAN. – Information was received, on Friday at 10:05pm, notifying
that there was a landslide at Selim Pass in Armenia’s Vayots Dzor
Region, nearby Sali village.

As a result, the soil layer had fallen on the road rendering it
difficult to pass.

A fire and rescue squad was dispatched to the scene, the Rescue
Service informs.

It was found out that a layer of soil had fallen on the
Yeghegnadzor-Martuni Highway and, as a result, the traffic had become
one-way.

The aforesaid squad demarcated this section of the road, and the road
construction crew cleared the motorway.

Two-way traffic was restored on Saturday at 12:40am.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

Center for Eye Microsurgery and Protection of Children’s Vision opens in Yerevan

June 22, 2013 | 13:56

YEREVAN. – An opening ceremony of the `Center for Eye Microsurgery and
Protection of Children’s Vision’ after professor Avetisov took place
in Yerevan on Saturday (photos).

The ceremony was attended by First Lady Rita Sargsyan, Health Minister
Derenik Dumanyan, Russian Ambassador to Armenia Ivan Volynkin and
other officials.

The center is created in cooperation with the Research Institute of
Eye Diseases of Russian Academy of Medical Sciences.

In his speech, Minister Dumanyan noted that the goal of cooperation is
development of modern ophthalmology in Armenia, introducing world
experience in this field.

The center will have modern equipment produced by leading companies,
such as Carl Zeiss, Alcon, Tomey and others.

The Minister stressed that the center will provide services for rates
and preferences set by the government.

In his turn, Sergey Avetisov, the son of professor, noted that the
center needs two components for the success – high-quality equipment
and professional staff.

`In this case, the two components are present. I am glad that the
center is named in honor of my father,’ he added.

Photo by Arsen Sargsyan/NEWS.am

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

Azeri energy firm says close to buying Greece’s DESFA

16:22 – 22.06.13

Azeri state energy company SOCAR said it has started talks with the
Greek government on purchasing the country’s natural gas grid operator
DESFA, after being the only bidder in a failed tender for the asset
sale, Reuters reported.

“The tender procedure on the privatisation of DESFA is over and SOCAR
has started talks with the Greek government,” SOCAR’s President Rovnag
Abdullayev told reporters on Saturday.

“It means that the whole natural gas distribution system of Greece
will be in our hands soon.”

Russian energy company Sintez and Greek-Czech group PPF-Terna dropped
out of the race for DESFA earlier this month, leaving SOCAR as the
only major player in the running.

Abdullayev said that a purchase of Greek assets would “strengthen the
export potential of SOCAR.”

SOCAR wants to increase the level of its gas distribution in Greece,
>From 17 percent at present, and deliver gas from the major Shah Deniz
field off Azerbijan to the European country.

Greece failed to attract any binding bids for natural gas firm DEPA
earlier this month, meaning a key sale to meet the country’s
privatisation targets under its international bailout had floundered.
Armenian News – Tert.am