Author: Kajoyan Gevork

ARMENIAN AND RUSSIAN PREMIERS DISCUSS YEREVAN’S EURASIAN INTEGRATION

YEREVAN, June 1. /ARKA/. Armenia’s urge towards integration with
the Customs Union is considered important, Russian Premier Dmitry
Medvedev said at his meeting with the Armenian counterpart Tigran
Sargsyan in Minsk.

“Armenia wants to participate in it (the Customs Union), and we
also believe it is important, it is just that a proper format of
such cooperation should be found”, Medvedev said, as quoted by
Novosti-Armenia referring to RIA Novosti.

The Russian premier suggested discussed these issues and the current
status of trade and economic cooperation between the two countries
at the meeting.

Sargsyan said that Yerevan’s position is clear and give rise to
no doubts.

“Now the technical issues remain to be solved”, Armenian premier said.

Sargsyan also said he had discussed signing of a memorandum about
integration with the head of the Eurasian economic commission Victor
Christenko in Minsk.

“It is well understood we urgently need to prepare this memorandum,
agree upon it with the presidents and sign it”, Sargsyan said.

Armenian premier also briefed Medvedev on negotiations with the head
of Rosatom Sergey Kirienko.

“We reached full understanding in relation to construction of a
new nuclear power unit”, Armneian premier said. Another topic of
discussion was that Armenia “should find way to financial markets in
order to get resources for its plant”. -0-

GAGUIK DZAROUKIAN, APRÈS L’EGLISE SAINT JEAN BAPTISTE INAUGURE AUJOURD’HUI LE CASINO ” PHARAON ”

Aujourd’hui Journee internationale de l’enfance, le leader du parti
Parkavadj Haïastan (Armenie prospère) et sans doute le plus riche
millionnaire d’Armenie, Gaguik Dzaroukian appele ” Dodig Gago ”
va inaugurer le casino ” Pharaon ” (Paravon en armenien). La maison
de jeu etait deja en activite le 14 mai lorsque Gaguik Dzaroukian
avait inaugure en grande pompe l’eglise Sourp Hovhannes Meguerditch
(Saint Jean Baptiste) a Apovian. Quelques rares journaux d’Armenie
qui peuvent encore defier cet homme de grand pouvoir et très influent
osent ecrire a l’exemple de ” Jamanag ” qu’après avoir baptise son
petit-fils a l’eglise Sourp Hovhannes Meguerditch, Gaguik Dzaroukian
s’apprete a le conduire et ” baptiser ” dans son nouveau casino lors
de cette Journee internationale de l’enfance…Dodig Gago, ex-champion
du monde de bras de fer, aux biceps impressionnants…appreciera !

Toujours est-il qu’en Armenie, aujourd’hui, les bâtisseurs d’eglises
peuvent egalement construire des maisons de jeux sans craindre de
choquer le peuple.

Krikor Amirzayan

samedi 1er juin 2013, Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com

BRAWL IN YEREVAN SCHOOL N166 OVER WITH STABBING

2013-06-01 00:15:18

Today, on May 31, in the range of 16:50 Police department of Yerevan
Nor Nork administrative district received a report from Medical Center
“St. Gregory the Illuminator” that two young men with injuries were
hospitalized.

As shamshyan.com reports, task force, which arrived in the medical
center, found that the marked people were 15-year-old Stepan Hakobyan
and 18-year-old Sergei Aghajanian, who were taken to the medical
center from N 166 school.

Doctors reported that the victims were unable to testify about the
incident, because they were in the operating room.

It turned out that on the football field near the school there was
a brawl that ended with a stabbing.

Investigators of the investigative team discovered on the site a
bloody shirt.

Materials are prepared in the investigative department of Nor Nork
by the investigator Yuri Hovhannisyan.

THIS DAY IN JEWISH HISTORY / A HISTORIAN WHO DIDN’T SUPPORT THE INVASION OF IRAQ IS BORN

Ha’aretz, Israel
May 31 2013

Bernard Lewis, the controversial, classically trained scholar, was
also tried in France for denying the Armenian genocide and fined one
franc.

By David B. Green | May.31, 2013 | 9:12 AM

May 31, 1916, is the birth date of Bernard Lewis, the British-born
historian of Islamic religion and culture. Although highly regarded
for the sweep of his scholarship and the accessibility of his writing,
Lewis has also served as a lightning rod in recent decades for attacks
by scholars and political analysts who view him as an apologist for
Israel and the West. He is also seen as an instigator of the Allied
invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Bernard Lewis was born in London’s Stoke-Newington section to Jewish
parents – his father dealt in real estate, and his mother minded the
home. He has said that his interest in the Middle East began during
his preparation for his bar mitzvah. His family was only moderately
traditional, but encouraged his fascination with languages and history.

Lewis earned both his bachelor’s degree and his Ph.D., in 1936 and
1939, respectively, from the School of Oriental Studies, at the
University of London (today called SOAS, the University of London).

During World War II, he served in the Royal Armoured Corps and
the Intelligence Corps, as well as in the British Foreign Office,
before returning to SOAS to teach. In 1949, he became the head of
the school’s department of Near and Middle Eastern history.

In 1974, Lewis moved to Princeton, New Jersey, where he accepted a
joint position at both Princeton University and at the Institute for
Advanced Studies. He remains an emeritus professor at Princeton to
this day.

As a classically trained scholar, Lewis approached his studies of
the region through philology, with expertise in Arabic, Turkish and
Persian. His earliest work was on medieval Arab history, and his
first scholarly article on medieval professional guilds in Islam.

After 1948 and the establishment of the State of Israel, it became
very difficult for Jewish scholars to work in the Arab world: Lewis
refocused his gaze on the Ottoman Empire and the origin of modern
Turkey, becoming one of the first Western academics to gain entry
to the Ottoman archives. Because the empire had covered most of the
Middle East until after World War I, this also meant having access
to records from all over the region.

Lewis has published more than 30 books, many of which became popular
best-sellers, both because of the author’s highly readable prose and
also because of his frequent attempts over the past two decades to
look at the conflict between the Muslim world and the West, and to
understand it in the context of Islamic history.

Because Lewis has dared to hold the Arab world itself responsible for
its backwardness, rather than placing blame exclusively on Western
colonialism and exploitation, he has earned himself a number of
foes, not only in the Middle East, but among left-leaning Western
intellectuals too.

As a scholar who frequently advised and was quoted by members of the
Bush administration after 9/11 and in the early years of the Iraq
War, he also drew significant fire from early opponents of the war,
even though he never was the advocate many have portrayed him as being.

Waffling on genocide?

Lewis, who remains active even at age 97 – the birthday he celebrates
today – has been at the center of frequent controversies since the late
1970s. He was one of the central villains depicted in the late Edward
Said’s 1978 study “Orientalism,” which portrayed early generations
of Middle Eastern scholars as providing academic cover for the West’s
imperialist efforts in the region, and of lacking objectivity. Lewis
he accused of “demagogy and outright ignorance.”

Lewis denied the charges, and pointed to the history of Oriental
studies as predating European political domination of the Middle East,
and starting with philological studies that “did nothing to advance
the cause of imperialism.”

Although early editions (in 1961 and 1968) of one of Lewis’
groundbreaking books, “The Emergence of Modern Turkey,” spoke about
“the terrible holocaust of 1915, when a million and a half Armenians
perished,” in later editions, the wording was changed to refer to
“the terrible slaughter of 1915,” and lowered the estimate to one
million Armenians, as well as mentioning “an unknown number of Turks,
killed by Armenians. Lewis explicitly argued that, although the Turks
massacred countless Armenians, there is no evidence that they operated
according to a centralized policy of genocide, and that calling the
killings that had the effect of diminishing the uniqueness of the
Jewish Holocaust.

Lewis’ revisionism on the Armenian question led to his being charged
and tried in France for denial a genocide, a crime there, and in
the mid-1990s, he was ordered by a French court to pay one franc
in damages after losing a case. Three other lawsuits against him in
another French court, however, failed. But Lewis faced a great deal
of criticism, including from a number of Jewish and Israeli scholars,
for his “denial” of the Armenian genocide.

Shortly before September 11, 2001, Lewis published an essay and then
a book that pointed to Osama bin-Laden and Al Qaida as a significant
threat to the West. He also accused misinterpreters of Islam within
the religion of distorting the meaning of “jihad,” and of using it
to justify suicide bombings and other acts of terror that had “no
antecedents in Islamic history, and no justification in terms of
Islamic theology, law, or tradition.”

But despite the fact that Lewis was often quoted by such people as
President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney, he has long
denied that he supported the invasion of Iraq or that he believed the
democracy could be imposed on Iraq from outside. That hasn’t stopped
his opponents from depicting him as an ideological architect of the
war, and they point to a number of appearances and statements of his
early on in the war as giving credence to the charge.

Among Lewis’ most well-known books are “The Arabs in History”
(1950), “Semites and Anti-Semites” (1986), “What Went Wrong?: The
Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East” (2002) and
“The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror (2003). His most
recently published book, from 2012, was a memoir, “Notes on a Century:
Reflections of a Middle East Historian.”

BLAZING NEW TRAILS FOR ARMENIA’S OLYMPIC SKIING

By Tom Vartabedian // Posted on May 30, 2013 in Featured, Headline, Mid-Atlantic

PHILADELPHIA, Pa.-The road to Sochi may be high and mighty but Arman
Serebrakian is prepared to take his leaps and bounds. His passion
is skiing. His intent? To bring Armenia a skiing medal in the 2014
World Olympic Games in Russia-or at the very least, some credibility
in the sport.

Arman Serebrakian is full speed ahead in his quest to bring Armenia
a skiing medal in the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.

One might think it’s been all downhill for the 26-year-old aspirant.

When you haven’t competed for two years because of injuries, people
get skeptical. But Serebrakian has the talent and the resume to fill
the role.

Over the past seven years, he’s been the top-ranked Armenian alpine ski
racer in the world, even during his lapse. As of April, he was listed
at the summit. He’s had 4 Top 10 NCAA finishes while competing for
the University of Colorado, where he made the All-Academic Ski Team,
served twice as captain, and one year as an assistant coach.

A dual citizen, Serebrakian is currently a medical student at Temple
University School of Medicine, having just completed his second year
and waiting to go into surgery medicine.

When his father took him down his first slope at the age of two,
Serebrakian immediately fell in love with the sport. Growing up,
his Armenian parents continuously took him and his sister Ani (2010
Vancouver Olympian) to the mountains in Lake Tahoe, Calif., every
weekend in high school.

Arman decided to graduate early to focus solely on skiing with the
goal of pursuing his lifelong dreams-making it into the World Cup
circuit and eventually the Olympics.

“My father was the biggest influence of my life,” he says. “He’s skied
his entire life. My grandfather was one of the first to ever ski in
Iran. Many role models inspired me along the way, including Italy’s
Alberto Tomba. My sister and I were always on the same club teams.

Even though we’d never admit it, there was always an unspoken sibling
rivalry there. We traveled together, stayed together, skied together.”

Ani did her collegiate skiing at the University of San Francisco
and was one of four athletes to represent Armenia in Washington in
2010, along with Sergei Mikaelian, Kristine Khachatryan, and Arsen
Nersisyan. Don’t be surprised to see her in Sochi.

“Realistically, there’s a very good chance,” says Arman. “I need to
be ranked among the top 500 in the world, which is where I was at the
end of my collegiate career by Jan. 24. Many people have asked me
why I’m doing this. I still have my deep passion for the sport and
I’ve continued to train. I grew up as one of the top-ranked junior
skiers in America and want to give it my best shot.”

He spends five to six days in the gym, while balancing a heavy academic
curriculum to become a surgeon. Starting in mid-July, je needs to do
a month-and-a-half in New Zealand where the best summer conditions
are. Then comes the international race circuit with trips to Europe
and North America in pursuit of a higher world rank.

“I’ve been doing this my whole life,” he says. “I’m so proud of my
Armenian heritage and I cannot think of a better way to express myself
than to go out there and compete at the highest level on the world’s
biggest stages. It’s my dream and that of the Armenian Ski Federation
to increase the popularity of winter sports in Armenia. They have
incredible mountains there and a great resort in Tzaghkadzor. What’s
left is to build upon the culture and get athletes started at a young
age. My goal is to put Armenian skiing on the map.”

If anyone can swing the pendulum Armenia’s way, maybe he can.

Serebrakian helped design the Armenia ski team uniforms a couple
years ago. Through his connections and performances on the slope,
he’s made a noticeable mark.

A great achievement was being awarded the Dr. Prentice Gautt
Postgraduate Scholarship from the Big XII Conference, which is awarded
to a student-athlete matriculating into graduate school at the end
of their eligibility.

Those younger moments carry their sentiments.

“My mom would pack us gourmet Armenian-Persian lunches in Tupperware to
eat while we were taking a break in the mountains skiing,” Serebrakian
recalled. “The other kids were all left to eat cold bologna sandwiches
and boxed juices. It has not been difficult for me to keep my identity
intact because I wholeheartedly embrace both worlds and believe I
can learn from each of them, which makes me somewhat unique.”

Ask him who his Armenian role models are and he’ll quickly tell you
Joe Almasian and Kenny Topalian, who competed for Armenia in the
bobsled during the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer. Another happens to
be tennis stalwart Andre Agassi, who’s devoted much of his time these
days to charity.

The burning question is why anyone with aspirations of becoming a
surgeon and who is dependent on his hands would risk everything to
ski. It’s never crossed his mind.

“I’m a big proponent of living in the here and now,” he admits. “If
the doctor feels so passionately about stepping into a ring with a
professional boxer, then I’m sure he has good reason and his patients
will surely understand. I’m very lucky to have the family around me
that I do.”

While at Colorado, Serebrakian made the decision to pursue his other
quest in becoming a physician. He graduated with a master’s degree in
integrative physiology and was accepted to Temple University School
of Medicine in Philadelphia, where he took out loans and began his
studies in 2011.

Even with demanding academic aspirations, he never relieved himself
of his passion for skiing and physical activity, spending hours in
the gym after classes, as well as biking and running in his new city.

As his second year of medical school comes to an end, the intensity
of his training program increases even more. He’s committed to taking
the year off from college and postponing his graduation to pursue
this goal.

Although the Armenia Ski Federation has guaranteed full support for
Serebrakian, they are unable to financially assist him. With the high
cost of ski racing and the increased demand for world class equipment,
training, and coaching, he’s seeking outside help.

The fact his sister made the 2010 Olympic Team and he took a pass
didn’t set too well. In some ways, he’s out to make amends. “Getting
that call to say I wasn’t going to Vancouver was one of the worst
moments of my life,” Serebrakian recalled. “I’ve learned from that.

I’m trying everything in my power to avoid a situation like that
again.”

To learn more or to donate, visit

VIDEO: LITTLE VARDAN COLLECTS EMPTY BOTTLES TO BUY CLOTHES

31.05.2013

Ten-year-old Vardan lives in the town of Abovyan, Armenia’s Kotayk
province. He has to fend for himself by collecting empty bottles which
he then cashes in. In an interview with Azatutyun TV the boy says he
is saving up some money to buy “a top with flowers on it”. (Translated
by Mariam Koloyan)

WILL RUSSIA BE DEVOURED BY THE TURKISH-AZERI ALLIANCE?

May 30 2013

The political scientist sees “hostile elements” in the attitude of
the Russian Federation President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan didn’t
attend the unofficial meeting of the leaders of the Collective Security
Treaty Organization (CSTO) countries. By the way, it was the first time
the President of Armenia had ever failed to attend such a high-level
event. Yerevan’s explanation was interesting: the President of the
Republic of Armenia will not leave for Bishkek on May 28 in order
to attend the events dedicated to Republic Day. Stepan Grigoryan,
a political scientist and the director of the Analytical Center on
Globalization and Regional Cooperation, thinks that the Armenian
side’s explanation is formally convincing. “It was a national holiday
in Armenia, very important for us, and it is good that the president
stayed in Armenia.” However, taking into account Armenia’s relations
with Russia and past experience that all Armenian Presidents have
always attended all those events which were attended by the Russian
President, a question arises what the reason for such an attitude
could be. Stepan Grigoryan said in this regard: “The holiday was a
good excuse not to go, but two problems, I think, underlie this kind
of decision. The first reason is the increase in gas prices by a high
percentage, which has caused a big fuss in Armenia and has obviously
weakened our government’s position. The second reason is Lavrov’s
statement.” Let us remind that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
stated at a joint press conference with the Azeri Foreign Minister
the other day: “Certainly, the status-quo is unacceptable; moreover,
it is unacceptable for everyone – first of all, for Azerbaijan, Armenia
and those who live in Nagorno-Karabakh. I am quite sure of that. The
status-quo means not only failure to solve the issue of the Azeri
territories’ return but also Armenia’s economic blockade. That is the
reason why there is no need to convince anyone in the unacceptability
of maintaining that situation.” By the way, the political scientist
even sees “hostile elements” in this statement made by Lavrov,
in particular in the phrase “the Azeri territories’ return,” since
neither the US nor Europe nor Iran, not even Turkey, have talked
much about this issue recently. “It is obvious that both the increase
in gas prices and Lavrov’s statement were received painfully by the
Armenian government, and it has had its manifestation. Yes, it is not
a demarche, since it is obvious that there is a formal explanation,
but it is obvious that these two issues had an indirect effect on the
Armenian President’s attitude,” our interlocutor said. By the way,
the President of the Republic of Armenia didn’t attend the unofficial
conference of the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) that commenced
in Astana yesterday either. The President of Belarus didn’t attend it
either. Our interlocutor interprets the Armenian President’s failure
to attend that conference as follows: “Armenia is not a member of
the EurAsEC, it is a member of the CSTO; it suggests a different
approach. In the second case, it is easier to explain; Armenia enjoys
the status of an observer at that organization. Therefore, there is
an answer here too.

However, this also stems from the previous problem. I am sure that
the Russian Federation will demand answers from the leaders of the
Eastern Partnership countries at both informal conferences, and
the President of Armenia wouldn’t like those discussions to take
place against the background of the above-mentioned problems.” Let
us remind that there is an intention to sign Association Agreements
with Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, and Georgia within the framework of
the Eastern Partnership Project by the end of the year, at the Vilnius
Summit. Moldova, Ukraine, and Georgia have no connections with either
the CSTO or the EurAsEC; thus, they have no problem. Belarus, though,
is a member of the EurAsEC, but it is not active in the projects of
the Eastern Partnership, and actual relations are not developed. So the
Russian Federation would have demanded answers mostly from Armenia. We
inquired how probable it was that in the current situation, the Russian
Federation would take a stiffer stance on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue,
particularly given the fact that the Western wing also seemed to be
inclined to invigorate the Karabakh conflict settlement process.

Jean-Claude Mignon, the President of the PACE, who was on an official
visit to Azerbaijan earlier this week, stated that the year 2013 might
be a turning point in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, meaning
the fact that in 2013-2014, Armenia and Azerbaijan would take turns
in the presidency of the PACE. In the European official’s opinion,
it is a brilliant opportunity to take serious steps to resolve the
Karabakh issue. Earlier Sabine Freizer, the Director of the Europe
Program, International Crisis Group, had said that the OSCE Minsk
Group’s mandate had expired, and that new options of the Karabakh
settlement had to be found. “It is not ruled out that there will
be invigoration in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, and it will be not
so advantageous for the Armenian sides. It is very probable that
the very Russian Federation will move in that direction. However,
there is one thing about which I want to warn the Russian side;
if Armenia, to put it bluntly, becomes weaker in the region with
regard to the Karabakh issue or as a result of competition, we
can congratulate Russia. The Turkey-Azerbaijan alliance will force
Russia out of the region completely. If the Russian Federation makes
those mistakes, yes, Armenia will become weaker, but we can already
congratulate the Russian Federation, even officially, on the victory
of the Turkish-Azeri alliance. Unfortunately, it is visible that the
Russian Federation has taken such an attitude, since it takes steps
that are not in its strategic interests. If the Russian Federation
intends to take this path, we cannot help them.” Our interlocutor
thinks that in this situation, Yerevan should continue to be active
in the Eastern Partnership, and society should support the government,
since that project will be very useful for Armenia. NELLY GRIGORYAN

Read more at:

© 1998 – 2013 Aravot – News from Armenia

TURKEY SEIZES SARIN IN HOMES OF ANTI-SYRIA MILITANTS, REPORTS SAY

Foreign-sponsored militants in Syria (file photo)

Fri May 31, 2013 7:10AM GMT

On May 5, the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria said
it found testimony from victims and medical staff that showed
foreign-backed militants had used sarin in Syria. The nerve agent has
been classified as a weapon of mass destruction in UN Resolution 687.

Related Interviews: ‘Syria unrest may spill over into Turkey’ ‘Iran,
Russia will respond to Syria war’ Related Viewpoints: ‘Turkey bogged
down in terror quagmire’ Turkish security forces have confiscated
two kilograms of the nerve agent sarin after raiding the homes of
militants from the terrorist al-Nusra Front fighting against Syria,
Turkey’s media report.

Several Turkish newspapers reported on Thursday that two kilograms
of sarin gas as well as heavy weapons were discovered during raids on
the homes of 12 members of the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front in
Turkey’s southern city of Adana, located some 150 kilometers (93 miles)
from the border with Syria.

The terrorists, who were allegedly planning a large attack in the
city, were formally detained on the order of Adana’s top court,
Turkish media reported without clarifying their charges.

Turkish authorities have not confirmed the media reports yet.

Adana’s governor Huseyin Avni Cos has denied the confiscation of sarin.

The incident took place weeks after two car bomb attacks killed
52 people and injured over a hundred others in the border town of
Reyhanli in Turkey’s southern province of Hatay on May 11. Turkish
protesters blamed Ankara for the attacks due to its support for the
armed groups inside Syria.

On May 5, the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria also
said it found testimony from victims and medical staff that showed
foreign-backed militants had used the nerve agent in Syria. Sarin has
been classified as a weapon of mass destruction in UN Resolution 687.

On March 19, over two dozen people were killed and many others injured
when militants fired missiles containing a chemical substance into a
village near the northwestern city of Aleppo, according to a report
by Syria’s official news agency SANA.

The Syrian government says Ankara has been playing a key role in
fueling the unrest in Syria by financing, training, and arming the
militants since the turmoil erupted in March 2011.

SPEECH DELIVERED BY THE RA NA PRESIDENT HOVIK ABRAHAMYAN AT PACE STANDING COMMITTEE MEETING

31.05.2013

Dear Mr. President,

Dear Mr. Minister of Foreign Affairs,

Dear colleagues,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great honor for me to welcome the participants of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Standing
Committee meeting in Yerevan. I hope that having PACE meetings in our
capital, as part of Armenia’s chairmanship in the Council of Europe
Committee of Ministers will open a unique page in the history of
relations between Armenia and the Council of Europe.

The European direction of Armenia’s foreign policy and the
Euro-integration processes are a result of a conscious choice anchored
on our common system of values, rich cultural and Christian heritage
– a choice, that stems from our domestic agenda. Indeed, Armenia is
a part of the European civilization, with its past as well as its
present, and committed to strengthening of democracy, ensuring the
rule of law and protection of fundamental freedoms and human rights.

It is with this intention and understanding that Armenia joined the
Council of Europe twelve years ago in 2001, thus reconfirming its
historical and cultural belonging to the European system of values.

Today, the Republic of Armenia, represented by the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, has assumed the chairmanship of the Council of Europe
Committee of Ministers, for the first time since becoming a Council of
Europe member. This is a significant event and a great responsibility
for us.

The Republic of Armenia assumes its chairmanship with an ambitious
agenda, the key elements of which include addressing challenges facing
the Council of Europe, such as intolerance, xenophobia and racism. We
will take all possible measures, including inter-cultural dialogue,
to overcome these challenges effectively during our chairmanship.

The commitment to strengthening democracy and persistent protection of
fundamental human rights and freedoms comes with a deep conviction and
conscientious attitude of the Armenian authorities. This commitment
is also the reason why the Republic of Armenia is ready to support
the ambitious programme initiated by the Secretary General of the
Council of Europe aimed at increasing the role and effectiveness of
the Council of Europe.

Dear attendees,

The mankind has been fighting against intolerance, racism and
xenophobia for centuries. However, as you can see, these problems still
remain on the agenda. In this age of globalization with large-scale
and sometimes even non-regulated movement of people, the cultural
environment is becoming increasingly diverse, which brings forth new
social and political challenges. In this regard, intolerance is one
of the most serious challenges for Europe today. It is appropriate to
remember the following words by Mahatma Gandhi: “Intolerance is itself
a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic
spirit.” Intolerance breeds racism, xenophobia, discrimination and
violence that end up with conflicts. In this context, the Council
of Europe should play a more practical and targeted role by applying
the whole range of the legal tools in its rich arsenal.

I would like to put a special emphasis on the importance of the
announcement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of
Armenia declaring the intercultural dialogue as a priority.

Historically being at the crossroads of different cultures and
civilizations and having a rich cultural heritage, Armenia has been
in the center of mutual cultural influences for centuries long. All
European countries have also been subjected to such influence. This
has provided a unique opportunity to enrich each other’s cultures,
respect each other’s traditions and, therefore, co-exist in peace,
because respect for other cultures, religions and traditions lies in
the basis of tolerance. Our primary and common goal is to strengthen
the unity between different peoples and promote better understanding
of their spiritual values.

Dear colleagues,

In conclusion, I would like to reiterate Armenia’s commitment to
its policy of integration with the European institutions. We have
sufficient political will to move the process of reforms forward, to
build a secure and democratic state. This is the choice of our people
and our citizens. To achieve this goal, we reiterate our readiness
to cooperate actively and effectively with the European institutions.

Once again, I welcome you in Yerevan and wish you success in your
endeavors.

ILHAM ALIYEV: KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT IS ONLY POSSIBLE ON THE BASIS OF TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY

ARMINFO
Friday, May 31, 10:15

The Karabakh conflict settlement is only possible on the basis of
territorial integrity, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said during
the opening of II World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue, which is
underway in Baku under the slogan “Living Together Peacefully in a
Diverse World”.

He thinks that the settlement of the conflict will bring peace to the
region. Aliyev said that Azerbaijan should restore its “territorial
integrity”.

He said that Azerbaijan has allegedly faced a humanitarian catastrophe
for 20 years. The official website of the Azeri President quotes
Aliyev as saying: “For 20 years, the internationally recognized
ancestral lands of Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding
seven districts have been under Armenian occupation.

This occupation continues. Azerbaijanis have been subjected to a
policy of ethnic cleansing. All the Azerbaijanis have been driven
out of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.

The Armenians have destroyed our cultural monuments. True,
international organizations, the world’s leading international
organizations have passed many decisions and resolutions on the
Armenian- Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. But, unfortunately,
there is no mechanism for enforcing these decisions and resolutions.

This leads to reducing respect, lost of faith in the decisions of
these international organizations.

Twenty years ago the UN Security Council passed four resolutions on
an unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian forces from the occupied
Azerbaijani lands. None of them has been executed. All the other
reputable international organizations, such as the Council of Europe,
the European Parliament, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation,
NATO, etc., have also adopted similar resolutions. Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity is recognized by the international community”.