Author: Kajoyan Gevork

Raffi Hovannisian declares hunger strike (updated)

Tert.am
17:27 – 10.03.13

The regular rally of the Heritage party leader Raffi Hovannisian
kicked off in the Yerevan Liberty Square.

Earlier Hovannisian stated that today’s rally is going to be decisive.
Member of the Sardarapat Movement initiative group Zhirayr Sefilyan is
also there.

A number of people – Heritage party representatives, art figures
deliver speeches at the event, welcoming the people and urging them to
be the owners of their vote.

Art critic Levon Mutafyan, who delivered speech at 1988 movement in
the Liberty Square, stated today he is inspired by seeing `powerful
people, powerful mass, a new Armenia which managed first of all to
overcome its indifference, managed to protect itself and think that we
are building homeland for our children.”

`We have no right to leave cut, split, distorted homeland to our
children,’ he said, adding that no matter how much the authorities
will try to rig, to use force they will not manage to strangle the
people’s wish to live free.

Member of Sardarapat movement, film director Tigran Khzmalyan called
Raffi Hovannisian Mr President, saying that the people have already
made their choice. He said it will be right for the MPs of the
opposition factions to waive their mandates.

Deputy leader of Heritage party Ruben Hakobyan, referred in his speech
to the incident in Geghrkunik province, saying that it proves that the
authorities want to inject tensions and are usuing criminal circles
with that aim, adding that in Sevan such circles are headed by Sevan
mayor.

The rally ended with the speech of the Heritage party leader Raffi
Hovannisian who stated that if until April 9, president’s inauguration
day, Serzh Sargsyan refuses to step down he will do it only over his
[Hovannisian’s] corpse. He said he is against seizing the presidential
residence and no blood will be shed anymore.

Hovannisian stated that starting from today he is declaring
hunger-strike in the Liberty Square and urged the political forces who
are stating that they are by people’s side prove their words by
actions. Hovannisian said the next rally will take place on March 15.

Videos:

Raffi Hovannisian: “Whether men or women, we have all been impregnated
with Armenian hope”

18:14, March 8, 2013

Raffi Hovannisian’s Barevolution took a decidedly festive mood today
in celebration of International Women’s Day.

Speakers from the steps of the Opera in Yerevan spoke about the role
of women both historically and presently in Armenian society and how
they were the backbone of the family and the nation.

Addressing the crowd, Hovannisian said, `Men or women, we have all
been impregnated with Armenian hope, faith and belief because there is
no retreat.’

The Heritage Party leader declared that between now and April 9,
inauguration day for the next president, there would be many changes
in the lives of people in Armenia.

Yervand Mangaryan, the noted actor of stage and screen, gave an
emotional address stressing the vital role that Armenian play today in
keeping families together in these tough economic times and that it
was incumbent to remove the present regime from power so that all
Armenian families had a chance to lead lives of hope and promise
towards the future.

He called for greater participation of women, who make up more than
50% of the population, in all spheres of social, cultural and
political life, noting that `we can ill afford to not utilize this
vast reserve of talent, energy and knowledge.’

Also addressing the crowd for the first time was Raffi Hovannisian’s
wife Armenouhie, who gave an impassioned plea for defending the rights
of women in the workplace and the home.

Tomoorow, Raffi Hovannisian will take his Barevolution on the road
again travelling to Vardenis, Nartouni, Gavar and Sevan, all in
Gegharkouniq Province.

`There’s a shadow of fear hanging over Gagharkouniq, but our people do
not accept such intimidation and people like Mr. Liska, the Regional
Governor, must resign,’ Hovannisian stressed.

A major rally is planned for this Sunday at Freedom Square, at which
time Hovannisian promised to make an important announcement.

He said that Serzh Sargsyan would not merely voluntarily step down,
but that he would `ask the people’ for permission to resign.

Hovannisian also commented on the statement made by Republic Party MP
Galoust Sahakyan who said that Raffi’s dream was to become president
of Armenia.

`I don’t know what his dream is, but I will live lon enough to see our
country free, independent and united,’ Hovannisian said.

ARMENIE
L’Arménie va exporter des moutons vers l’Irak

L’Arménie a l’intention d’exporter des moutons vers l’Irak a déclaré
le ministre arménien de l’agriculture Sergo Karapetian.

Les médias avaient auparavant rapporté que l’Iran n’importait plus de
moutons d’Arménie en raison de la dévaluation du rial. Des efforts
sont faits pour continuer les exportations de moutons vers l’Iran, a
dit le ministre.

Actuellement, des négociations sont en cours pour organiser des
exportations de moutons vers l’Irak via l’Iran, a déclaré Sergo
Karapetian.

Le ministre a également informé que les exportations vers l’Iran sont
passées de 172 000 têtes de mouton en 2011 à 48 000 en 2012.

Selon le ministère de l’agriculture, il y a actuellement 590200 têtes
de bovins, 598000 têtes de moutons et de chèvres et 108 000 porcs dans
le pays.

dimanche 10 mars 2013,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

A tu per tu con: Silvia e Ugo

Reset Italia
ven 08 mar, 2013

Incontro Ugo con Silvia e i bambini, Riccardo di 5 anni e Letizia di 3
un venerdì uggioso di gennaio, in un tardo pomeriggio post asilo. Ugo
lo conosco da più di venticinque anni, è stato il mio testimone di
nozze e da più di tre anni è malato di SLA, la ormai non più rara
malattia meglio nota come Sclerosi Laterale Amiotrofica. Comunica
tramite un sintetizzatore vocale comandato dagli occhi, l’unica parte
del corpo che riesce ancora a muovere.

D. Chiedo a Silvia: parlami dell’inizio del vostro rapporto.
R. Ci siamo conosciuti da adulti: un anno di fidanzamento, oltretutto
vissuto a distanza per impegni lavorativi in Cina di Ugo [che è
ingegnere meccanico]. Abbiamo litigato tantissimo, da fidanzati! Per
fortuna ci siamo sposati dopo pochi mesi. Un giorno, istantaneamente,
ho avuto una certezza: che quest’uomo, dalla notte dei tempi, era
stato pensato da Dio per me. Non c’erano altre persone con cui, come
con lui, sentissi di non aver bisogno di fingere. Non potevo
lasciarmelo scappare! Era una delle piccole grandi certezze della
vita, intuizioni come fiammelle che sono la strada per trovare il
fuoco. Ci siamo sposati nel 2005, ti ricordi vero il nostro
matrimonio?! Nel febbraio 2008 nasce Riccardo, dopo poco rimango in
attesa di Letizia la cui nascita è prevista per settembre 2009. A
giugno 2009 scopriamo che Ugo è affetto da SLA.

D. Come è andata?
R. Ugo in quel periodo si sentiva un poco stanco. Un amico fisiatra
ha l’accortezza di indicarci alcuni esami che sembra opportuno
effettuare. Il verdetto è terribile: Ugo è affetto da SLA. Il nostro
impatto con la malattia è stato brutale. Lo specialista ha guardato in
faccia mio marito e me, che avevo il pancione del settimo mese di
gravidanza, e ci ha detto senza mezzi termini di non fare progetti a
lunga scadenza; di non accendere un mutuo a dieci anni, e che se Ugo
voleva fare una corsa oggi non la rimandasse a domani perché forse
domani non avrebbe più potuto farla. E’ stato uno choc ed un
insulto. Abbiamo cercato di reagire e di affrontare comunque la realtÃ
inattesa e carica di angoscia. L’aiuto ci è venuto dal Centro Nemo del
Niguarda di Milano, un polo specializzato per la SLA, dove l’approccio
è del tutto diverso: al drastico `non c’è nulla da fare’ che ci
eravamo sentiti sentenziare dal medico si contrappone qui un semplice
e concreto `vediamo cosa si può fare’. Ci sono stati accanto per
aiutarci a capire qual è il modo migliore di affrontare la
situazione. Purtroppo, con Ugo la SLA si dimostra subito una brutta
bestia vorace. All’inizio di settembre, quando Letizia nasce, Ugo giÃ
fatica a stare in piedi. Iniziamo mesi terribili, in cui, con velocitÃ
spaventosa, Ugo sembra cedere terreno alla malattia in una ritirata
senza tregua: in pochi mesi è in sedia a rotelle. A febbraio 2010,
dopo un ricovero al Nemo, Ugo non muove più le braccia.

D. Come hai fatto tu, con i bambini, in questa circostanza ad andare avanti?
R. Quando Ugo esce dal Nemo, a febbraio, inizia un movimento di
amicizia e solidarietà che ben presto assume proporzioni non
previste. I nostri amici, in particolare quelli del movimento di
Comunione e Liberazione si organizzano in turni: ogni sera arrivano
almeno in due, con la cena pronta e le maniche rimboccate. Certo,
questa situazione ha degli aspetti difficili: significa che la propria
casa smette di essere casa propria, e deve aprirsi per forza ad un
via-vai di generosità e amicizia che ha aspetti bellissimi ma richiede
comunque accettazione ed accoglienza. Nasce una grande attenzione nei
confronti della nostra situazione; eppure, paradossalmente, molte
delle persone che vengono qui dicono di farlo perché si sentono
aiutate da noi. Si viene per dare una mano, ma spesso la motivazione
profonda è più forte, e risiede nel bisogno che tutti abbiamo di
essere aiutati. Questo ha del miracoloso. Noi non facciamo proprio
niente, non vogliamo insegnare niente a nessuno, eppure quando
qualcuno viene qui poi ci confida di stare meglio lui stesso, e ci
sono diverse persone che chiedono di poter venire ad aiutarci. Pensa
che in parrocchia si fanno i turni perché ogni giorno ci sia qualcuno
che recita il rosario per Ugo. Noi così sappiamo che quotidianamente
qualcuno dedica tempo e preghiere espressamente per noi. Altri hanno
organizzato pellegrinaggi alla tomba di don Giussani, di cui è stata
recentemente inaugurata la causa di beatificazione, per chiedere la
grazia della guarigione. A pregare per noi ci sono persone amiche, ma
anche tanti sconosciuti: addirittura un monastero di clausura in
Armenia, a cui un amico ha raccontato la nostra situazione. La forza
della preghiera è tangibile. Per noi, in particolare per me, è come
avere accanto una persona in più. Ã=88 difficile spiegarlo, se non se
ne ha esperienza: non sono parole vuote, che finiscono nel nulla, ma è
un aiuto veramente concreto e sostanziale. All’aiuto spirituale si
affianca poi l’aiuto pratico. Abbiamo persone che vengono qui e danno
una mano in tutto. Quando ho bisogno di qualcosa, alzo il telefono e
trovo sempre una risposta maggiore delle aspettative.

D. Come sei cambiata in questi mesi?
R. Ho imparato, prima di tutto, ad amare mio marito come non avrei
mai immaginato e sperato: sono innamorata di lui e lo risposerei
immediatamente, nella situazione in cui si trova. Ho compreso che una
persona non è ciò che può o non può fare: il suo valore è altrove. E
poi ho imparato a chiedere aiuto, amicizia, sostegno e
compagnia. Troppo spesso siamo portati a cercare di far tutto da soli,
arrogandoci il diritto di poter bastare a noi stessi. Invece siamo
creature dipendenti, e Ugo lo mostra in modo eclatante. Lui,
oggettivamente, dipende dagli altri in qualsiasi cosa: dalle più
piccole, come grattarsi la fronte, fino a quelle fondamentali come il
nutrirsi o addirittura il respirare. E tuttavia lui mostra, in modo
estremo, quello che ciascuno di noi è. Io stessa ho imparato a
chiedere aiuto, perché oggettivamente non ce la faccio: è una
situazione più grande di tutti noi. Si inizia a vedere che l’uomo è
fatto per stare con gli altri, in un ambito comunitario. Sono convinta
che chi muore di disperazione da un lato non si sia reso conto che
ogni difficoltà racchiude possibilità buone anche per chi lo vive, e
dall’altro si sia chiuso in se stesso, restando solo e così
condannandosi all’angoscia. La presenza degli altri è un immenso
aiuto: qualcuno che viene e chiede come stai, come va, se hai bisogno
di qualcosa; e non lo chiede solo per formalità , ma perché veramente
ci tiene a te. Questo ti dà un respiro infinito, ti dà la possibilitÃ
di ripartire, di guardare a coloro che hai vicino e che ami in un modo
nuovo tutti i giorni. E ciò è più che mai necessario, in quanto ogni
giornata è segnata dalla fatica. Fin dal risveglio, Ugo ha problemi
respiratori per via delle secrezioni che si accumulano nella cannula
durante il sonno. Poi bisogna spostarlo per l’igiene personale. Troppo
spesso ci si approccia alle persone con difficoltà di questo tipo come
se fossero prima di tutto ammalate. Invece, Ugo prima di tutto è mio
marito: ed è un uomo che ha bisogno di fare una doccia, come tutti. E,
come tutti, Ugo fa la doccia tutte le mattine. Certo, è una fatica,
prima di tutto per lui, perché per spostarlo ci vuole un
sollevatore… Eppure tutto ciò mantiene alta la sua dignità . A noi
avevano suggerito un letto motorizzato, come quello degli ospedali,
fin dal primo ricovero. Noi invece abbiamo scelto di dormire insieme
ancora oggi, nel `lettone», come una qualsiasi coppia di
sposi. Vogliamo preservare un ambiente familiare a tutti gli effetti
per i nostri figli. Ugo rimane il papà dei suoi figli: un papà con dei
problemi, un papà ammalato, ma sempre il papà . E tutta la famiglia
vive la fede e la speranza della guarigione. I bambini si chiedono
quando il papà potrà guarire, come se avesse un raffreddore. Nessuno
di noi vive in una prospettiva di negatività senza speranza: crediamo
tantissimo nei miracoli.
Potrebbe essere qualcosa di eclatante: chiudo la porta, vado
nell’altra stanza e mi trovo mio marito in piedi, guarito. E questo
potrebbe essere! Oppure, l’altro miracolo sarebbe che si trovasse una
terapia risolutiva per la SLA: e questo è il miracolo che mio marito
chiede a Dio, perché sarebbe la guarigione non solo per lui. E credo
che solo chi soffre come un malato di SLA possa capire cosa vuol dire
chiedere la stessa salvezza per qualche altro malato che nemmeno
conosciamo.

D. mi hanno raccontato che tu e Ugo tenete anche un Corso per fidanzati?
R: Silvia sorride: credo di averli `stesi’, i ragazzi che sono venuti
qui! Ho detto loro chiaro e tondo che nella vita non si può sapere
cosa accadrà , e bisogna affrontare coscientemente il passo decisivo
della vita, quello del matrimonio, sapendo che può capitare anche una
situazione come la nostra. Certo, quando si fanno le promesse
matrimoniali, `nella salute e nella malattia’, si spera sempre che la
malattia non accada. Eppure ci si promette di restare accanto
all’altro anche nel dolore, che può anche essere il dolore di un
tradimento, ma anche quello di veder tradita l’idea che abbiamo
dell’altro. Io, Silvia, ho avuto la grazia, il giorno del matrimonio,
di sentire ciò molto chiaramente: ho fatto quelle promesse con
coscienza, quel giorno `c’ero’ con la testa e con il cuore e non ero
sopraffatta dalle emozioni. Ho preso in carico questa missione: perché
sposarsi è una missione, come andare in Africa a convertire e aiutare
le persone. Il matrimonio non è soltanto il sì di `quel giorno’, ma un
sì rinnovato tutti i giorni e tutte le sere, quando ci si impegna a
non andare a dormire con il rancore e la rabbia nel cuore, perché il
momento di buio della notte non si estenda a tutta la vita. Anche se
l’innamoramento passa, si riafferma continuamente il significato
dell’accompagnarsi reciprocamente al proprio destino: diventare più
veri ogni giorno, raggiungendo la verità di sé. Ripensando a questi
anni di fatica, chi non mi avrebbe giustificata se avessi mollato
tutto? Cosa mi tiene legata ad una condizione familiare come questa,
in cui, oltre ad Ugo, anche i bambini mi richiedono moltissimo? Il sì
delle mie nozze non è un sì soltanto mio, ma è accompagnato dalla
presenza di un Altro. Ã=88 grazie a Lui che posso oggi guardare mio
marito con una tenerezza ed un amore molto più potenti di quelli del
giorno del matrimonio; è grazie a Lui che mio marito, a sua volta, mi
vuole così bene. `Io ho bisogno di te’, mi dice: e non è solo un
bisogno di cose da fare… Quale marito ha la libertà di dire alla
moglie una cosa del genere? Il nostro rapporto è vero perché è molto
libero. Ci guardiamo per quello che siamo, e questa è una meta
difficilissima. Noi ci sentiamo `benedetti’, perché a noi, comunque,
questa malattia ha portato tanta Grazia. Le nostre promesse sono state
pronunciate davanti ad un Altro che vive con noi, e la cui presenza e
vicinanza è ciò che ci tiene insieme e ci aiuta ad avere pietà dei
nostri limiti: di quelli dell’altro, ma anche dei propri. A volte,
inconsapevolmente, mi capita di far male ad Ugo: e lì, prima di tutto,
è a me stessa che devo chiedere perdono, ammettendo di essere limitata
e di non poter far bene ogni cosa. Amarsi vuol dire non partire dal
proprio limite, bensì dalla presenza dell’altro. Anche perché non
sarebbe stato mica facile vivere con Ugo in ogni caso: è un testone
terribile!

Autore del post: Lorenzo Roberto Quaglia – Poeta, laureato in
Giurisprudenza, nato il 12 luglio 1966 a Milano. Suoi lavori sono
stati pubblicati in riviste culturali, altri hanno ricevuto dei
prestigiosi consensi ai concorsi: – Artisti Veneti 1989 – C.L.I. 1990
– Città di Venezia 1992 – XXII Edizione Premio Nazionale Natale
1989. E’ presente nel “Dizionario antologico dei poeti italiani”, nel
“Censimento dei poeti e scrittori contemporanei”, in “Arte e Poesia
dei giorni nostri” e nel “Repertorio di poesia contemporanea”
(Ed. Ursini 1992). Con la casa editrice on line “Lulu.com”
() pubblica: – nel dicembre 2008 la raccolta di
poesie “Al Bal Tabarin” – – nel dicembre 2012 il saggio: “Post 2010 –
2012” gli anni delle opportunità Critica: le sue orme poetiche
ricalcano, in certo qual modo, lo stile ungarettiano per asciuttezza
espressiva e per essenzialità e quasi assenza della parola. Il suo
navigare è senz’altro ok e scandisce un battito non temporale di
verità e di attese.
________________________________________________________________
Translated from Italian to English using Bing Translator

Face to face with Silvia and Ugo

Reset Italia
Fri March 8, 2013

Meet Ugo with Silvia and children, Richard of 5 years and Letizia of 3
a boring Friday of January, in a late afternoon kindergarten post. Ugo
know him from more than twenty-five years, was my wedding and witness
for more than three years is suffering from ALS, the now no longer
rare disease known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Communicates
through a voice synthesizer, controlled from the eyes, the only part
of the body that can still move.

D. ask Silvia: tell me about the beginning of your relationship.
A. we met as adults: a year of engagement, also lived at a distance
for work commitments in China by Hugh [which is mechanical
engineer]. We quarrelled a lot, from boyfriends! Luckily we got
married a few months later. One day, instantly, I had a certainty:
this man, from the dawn of time, was designed by God for me. There
were no other people with whom, as with him, felt no need to
pretend. I couldn’t escape the thought! It was a small great
certainties of life, insights as flames that are the way to find the
fire. We were married in 2005, remember true our marriage?! In
February 2008 was born Richard, soon I am waiting for Letizia whose
birth is scheduled for September 2009. In June 2009 we discover that
Hugh is suffering from ALS.

Q. How did it go?
R. Hugh at the time it felt a little tired. A friend Physiatrist has
the foresight to provide some tests that it seems appropriate to
make. The verdict is terrible: Ugo is suffering from ALS. Our impact
with the disease was brutal. The specialist looked on my face my
husband and me, I had the belly of the seventh month of pregnancy, and
told us in no uncertain terms not to do long-term projects; do not
turn on a mortgage in ten years, and that if Hugh wanted to make a run
today don’t they were to postpone to tomorrow because perhaps tomorrow
would no longer be able to do it. It was a shock and an insult. We
tried to react and deal with unexpected reality anyway and full of
anguish. The help there came from the Centre of Milan’s Niguarda Nemo,
a specialized Centre for the SLA, where the approach is quite
different: the drastic “there is nothing to do,” we heard sentencing
doctor contrasts here a simple and concrete “Let’s see what you can
do”. We were next to help us understand what is the best way to deal
with the situation. Unfortunately, with Ugo als proves just a bad
voracious beast. In early September, when Gladness was born, Ugo
already struggling to stand. We begin the terrible months, where, with
frightening speed, Ugo seems to cede ground to the illness in a
retreat without truce: in a few months is in a wheelchair. In February
2010, after a hospitalization at Nemo, Hugh did not move more arms.

Q. How did you create, with children, in this circumstance to move forward?
A. when Hugh comes out of Nemo, in February, began a movement of
solidarity and friendship that soon takes unexpected proportions. Our
friends, particularly those of the movement of communion and
liberation are organized in shifts: every night they arrive at least
two, with dinner ready and the sleeves rolled up. Of course, this
situation has difficult aspects: it means that the home stops being
your own home, and must open up to force a way-go of generosity and
friendship that has beautiful aspects but still requires acceptance
and hospitality. A great attention towards our situation; Yet,
paradoxically, many of the people who come here say they do it because
they feel helped by us. It is to lend a hand, but often profound
motivation is stronger, and resides in need that we all have to be
helped. This is miraculous. We don’t do anything, we don’t want to
teach anything to anyone, but when someone comes here then there is
confident to get better himself, and there are several people who want
to come to help us. Thinks that in the parish are the rounds because
every day there is someone who recites the Rosary for Ugo. We thus
know that someone dedicates time daily and prayers for us. Others have
organized pilgrimages to the tomb of Fr. Giussani, which was recently
inaugurated the cause for beatification, to ask for the grace of
healing. To pray for us there are friendly people, but also many
strangers: even a cloistered monastery in Armenia, where a friend has
told our situation. The power of prayer is tangible. For us,
especially for me, it’s like having a person next door. It’s hard to
explain it, if you don’t have experience: they are not empty words,
which end in nothing, but is a really concrete and substantial
aid. Spiritual aid complements then the practical help. We have people
who come here and give a hand in everything. When I need something, I
lift the phone and I always find an answer greater than expectations.

Q. How are changed during these months?
A. I learned, first of all, to love my husband as I never imagined
and hoped: I am in love with him and risposerei him immediately, in
the situation where it is located. I realized that a person is not
what may or may not do: its value is elsewhere. And then I learned to
ask for help, friendship, support and companionship. Too often we tend
to try to do everything yourself, arrogandoci the right to suffice
ourselves. Instead we are dependent creatures, and Hugh shows it so
striking. He, objectively, depends on the other in everything: from
the smallest, as scratching his forehead until fundamental ones such
as feeding or even breathe. And yet he shows so far, what each of us
is. I myself learned to ask for help because I can’t objectively: is
bigger than all of us. You get to see that man is made to be with
others, on a community level. I am convinced that anyone who dies of
despair on the one hand we have not realized that each fix has also
good chances for whoever lives, and on the other it is closed in on
itself, leaving only and thus condemning the anxiety. The presence of
others is a huge help: someone who comes and asks how are you, how’s
it going, if you need something; and it asks only for formality, but
because it really holds us to you. This gives a infinite breath, gives
you the ability to share, to look at those who have close and you love
in a new way every day. And this is more than ever necessary because
each day is marked by fatigue. Since awakening, Ugo has trouble
breathing because of the secretions that accumulate into the cannula
while sleeping. Then you have to move it to personal hygiene. All too
often there are approaches to people with such difficulties as if they
were first off ill. Instead, Hugh is first of all my husband: ed is a
man who needs to take a shower, like everybody else. And, like
everyone else, Ugo showering every morning. Sure, it’s a struggle,
first of all for him, because to move it it takes a lift … Yet all
this keeps high dignity. We had suggested a motorized bed, like that
of hospitals since the first hospitalization. Instead we chose to
sleep together again today, in Latvian, “like any other married
couple. We want to preserve an environment familiar to all effects for
our children. Hugh is the father of her children: a dad with problems,
a sick dad, but always dad. And the whole family lives the faith and
hope of healing. Children are asking when Dad can heal, as if he had a
cold. None of us lives in a perspective of negativity hopeless: we
believe so much in miracles. Might be something obvious: I close the
door, go in the other room and I am my husband standing, healed. And
this could be! Or, another miracle would you find a definitive therapy
for ALS: and this is the miracle that my husband asks God why would
not only healing for him. And I guess only those who suffer as a
sufferer of ALS can understand what does it mean to ask the same
salvation for some other ill that not even know it.

Q. I have told you and Ugo keep even
a course for boyfriends?
A: Silvia smiles: I think I have them «spread’, the guys who came
here! I told them clearly that in life one cannot know what will
happen, and you have to consciously address the decisive step of life,
that of marriage, knowing that it can happen even a situation like
ours. Of course, when you do the double, “promises in health and
disease”, it is hoped that the disease does not happen. Yet it
promises to remain next to each other even in pain, which can also be
the pain of a betrayal, but also to have betrayed the idea that we
have of each other. I, John, I had the grace, on your wedding day, to
hear this very clearly: I made those promises with conscience, that
day there was ‘ with the head and heart and I wasn’t overwhelmed by
emotion. I took charge of this mission: why getting married is a
mission, how to go to Africa to convert and help people. Marriage is
not only the cause of “that day”, but a Yes renewed every day and
every night, when we will not go to sleep with the resentment and
anger in the heart, because the moment of darkness of the night does
not extend to the rest of his life. Although falling in love passes,
it reaffirms the significance of associating with each other to their
fate: becoming more real every day, reaching the truth
himself. Thinking back to these years of toil, who I wouldn’t be
justified if I ditched altogether? What keeps me tied to a condition
familiar as this, in which, apart from Hugh, even children need me so
much? The Yes of my marriage is not a Yes only mine, but is
accompanied by the presence of another. It is thanks to him that I can
now watch my husband with a tenderness and a love more powerful than
those of the wedding day; It is thanks to him that my husband, in
turn, want me so well. ‘ I need you ‘, it tells me: it is not only a
need for things to be done … Which husband has the freedom to say
his wife such a thing? Our relationship is true because it is very
free. We look for what we are, and this is a very difficult goal. “We
feel blessed”, because to us, however, the disease has brought such
grace. Our promises were spoken in front of another who lives with us,
and whose presence and closeness is what keeps us together and helps
us to have mercy on our limits: those of others, but also of their
own. Sometimes, unconsciously, I happen to hurt Hugh: and there, first
of all, it’s myself that I have to ask for forgiveness, admitting to
be limited and cannot do well everything. Love means not from its
limit, but by the presence of the other. Also because it wouldn’t be
easy to live with mica Ugo anyway: is an awful big head!

Author of post: Lorenzo Roberto Quaglia -poet, graduated in law, born
on July 12, 1966 in Milan. His works have been published in cultural
magazines, others have received prestigious accolades in
competitions:-Venetian Artists 1989-C.L.I. 1990-1992 Venice-XXII
Edition Christmas 1989 national award. It is present in the
“dictionary of Italian poets anthology”, in the “census of
contemporary poets and writers”, “art and poetry of our time” and in
“contemporary poetry Repertoire” (ed. Ursini 1992). With the online
publishing house “Lulu.com” () publishes:-in
December 2008 the collection of poems “Al Bal Tabarin”–in December
2012 the essay: “Post 2010-2012” the years of Critical opportunities:
poetic retrace his footsteps, somewhat ungarettiano style for dryness
and expressive essentiality and virtual absence of speech. Her sail is
definitely ok and marks a non-time beat of truth and waited.

US Official News
March 6, 2013 Wednesday

Washington: HON. MICHAEL G. GRIMM OF NEW YORK IN THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Washington

The Library of Congress, The Government of USA has issued the following Speech:

Mr. GRIMM. Mr. Speaker, last month marked 25 years since the people of
the Nagorno Karabakh region took a brave and bold first step in
asserting their right to political freedom and national independence.
Since the early 20th century the Nagorno Karabakh region and its
people have been subject to the territorial squabbling and political
gamesmanship of a number of foreign powers. In spite of this fact, the
proud people of the Nagorno Karabakh have steadfastly asserted their
desire for political autonomy, overwhelmingly approving a popular
referendum declaring independence from Azerbaijan in 1991 and thereby
affirming a distinct national identity driven by deep ethnic,
cultural, and religious bonds. The Nagorno Karabakh Republic’s steady
advances in the industries of banking, agriculture, and
telecommunications, provide further testament to their promise as a
viable independent partner in the international community. Coupling
this with the United States’ longstanding and unambiguous role as a
defender of free people’s right to self-determination across the
globe, I hope that my colleagues will join me in commemorating the
25th anniversary of the Nagorno Karabakh liberation movement as part
of the promotion of peace, stability, and prosperity in the South
Caucusus.

For more information please visit:

Trend, Azerbaijan
March 7 2013

Bundestag Chairman: Armenia has no prospects of joining the EU

Armenia has no realistic prospects of joining the EU, chairman of the
Bundestag Norbert Lammert said today, News-Armenia reported.

“We appreciate our cooperation with Armenia, its progress towards
integration with the EU must be developed, but I do not see any
realistic prospects for its accession to the EU for many reasons,”
Lammert said on Thursday while delivering a lecture at the Yerevan
State University.

While speaking about the EU’s future, he touched on the EU’s relations
with Turkey.

“I can speak about Turkey which has already started negotiations on EU
accession, however, I’m very skeptical about it,” he said. The
question arises: can or must this goal be achieved? There is no
intelligible reason for EU expansion.”

Trend, Azerbaijan
March 7 2013

Expert: Moscow will not make an objective statement on Khojaly airport

Azerbaijan, Baku, Mar. 7 / Trend, E. Tariverdiyeva /

The issue of Khojaly airport will certainly be discussed with
President Serzh Sargsyan during his visit to Moscow and his meeting
with President Vladimir Putin, Trend Expert Council member, Western
University professor, political analyst Fikret Sadikhov said.

However Russia, as a Co-Chair of the Minsk Group, must adhere to the
statements of the Minsk Group that the start of operation of the
airport will only exacerbate tensions in the region and in relations
between Armenia and Azerbaijan, he said.

“I do not think that Russia will make any statements differing from
those of the Minsk Group. However, Moscow will not make any more
objective and clear statements with notes of pressure on Armenia
regarding the occupation of Azerbaijani territories, opening of the
airport in Khojaly and intention to start its operation, which is a
violation of international law,” Sadikhov said on Thursday.

As for the visit, the expert believes that it was quite expected that
Sargsyan’s first visit after his re-election was to Moscow.

According to the expert, Russia supports long-term political-military
cooperation with Armenia; the two countries have unity on many issues.

“Sargsyan needs external support, the support of the major powers. The
situation in Armenia is extremely restless, opposition rallies are
held against Sargsyan’s government. However, in the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, Russia’s position remains invariant as of a co-chair of the
Minsk Group,” he said.

According to the expert, no progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
should be expected after the meeting of Serzh Sargsyan and Vladimir
Putin.

Earlier, Armenian media reported on the intended commissioning of the
airport in Khojaly in the near future.

The commissioning of the airport is an open violation of the
Convention on International Civil Aviation (adopted on December 7,
1944 in Chicago), the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry reported earlier.

Azerbaijan will strengthen the legal use of the application of the
Chicago convention.

Azerbaijan banned the use of its airspace over Nagorno-Karabakh
occupied by Armenia, as no one can guarantee safe flights in the area,
the Azerbaijani Civil Aviation Administration said earlier.

According to Azerbaijani Civil Aviation Administration, Armenia’s
steps towards the operation of the airport are attempts to violate
international aviation law.

This air space belongs to Azerbaijan, so its use by Armenia is illegal.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the European
Civil Aviation Conference (ICAC) also support the position of
Azerbaijan on this issue.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994.

The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France and the U.S. –
are currently holding peace negotiations.

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

The Herald, UK
March 7 2013

Research and Markets: Analyzing Nuclear Power in Armenia 2013

DUBLIN – Research and Markets
()
has announced the addition of the “Analyzing Nuclear Power in Armenia”
report to their offering.

The report – Analyzing Nuclear Power in Armenia – by Aruvian’s
R’search, explores the importance of nuclear power in today’s world,
with Section One being dedicated to Understanding the Basics of
Nuclear Power. The report looks at the basics of the nuclear industry
that is, how a plant works, analyzing and understanding the fuel
cycle, the various components which are involved in the working of a
nuclear power plant, and much more. Economics, issues and barriers,
and other such factors are also explored in-depth in this report.

Even though Armenia has only one operating nuclear reactor, this unit
supplied 39.4% of the total electricity produced in 2008 – 2.27
billion kWh net. Of the 5.9 billion kWh gross generation in 2007,
nuclear supplied 43%, hydro 31% and gas 25%. Electricity consumption
per capita is about 1700 kWh/yr. Natural gas, which is imported from
Russia, is its main source of primary energy.

In 2003, Armenia turned over financial control of Metsamor to Russia’s
state-owned power monopoly, Unified Energy Systems, in accordance with
a swap agreement that settled the plant’s $40 million debt to Russian
nuclear fuel suppliers.

Key Topics Covered:

A. Executive SummarySection

1: Understanding Nuclear Power

B. Basics of the Nuclear Industry

C. Profiling the Global Nuclear Power Industry

D. Global Climate Change & Nuclear Power

E. Challenges & Barriers to Nuclear PowerSection

2: Nuclear Power Industry in Armenia

A. Energy Landscape of Armenia

B. Energy Policy of Armenia

C. Nuclear Power in Armenia

D. Russia-Armenia Nuclear Cooperation

E. Looking at the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant

F. Future Perspective for Armenia’s Nuclear Power IndustrySection

3: Conclusion

A. Appendix

B. Glossary of Terms

For more information visit

Life Beyond the Capital: Hardship mixes with hope in Karabakh’s villages

KARABAKH 25: BUILDING A REPUBLIC | 07.03.13 | 22:02

NAZIK ARMENAKYAN
ArmeniaNow

By GOHAR ABRAHAMYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

Armenian revolutionary Stepan Shahumian’s headless mosaic greets
visitors at the entrance to the Karabakh village of Sos. The head on
the hero’s Soviet-era image was blown off by Azeri shelling more than
18 years ago, and there seem to be no plans for restoration.

Honoring heroes is a less urgent need than producing new ones. And
with many of Karabakh’s 301 villages losing their youth to Karabakh
cities or to other countries, concerns outgrow populations.

As with most villages in Karabakh, the day here ends when it gets
dark. In the evening the village goes into deep slumber as residents
start switching off lights.

Just 40 minutes away in Stepanakert, nightlife begins in bars, discos,
cafes and the broad streets are lit by bright shops inviting strollers
to visit Mango, Sela, Ecco and other foreign brand-name retailers
whose goods once would have seemed a dream on those shell-shocked
streets.

Just as there are `two Armenias’ – Yerevan, and all that is outside
Yerevan – so are there stark differences in life and lifestyle between
capital Stepanakert and the villages that make up the self-declared
republic.

Nearly twice as many Karabakhis live outside the capital as live in
it. Stepanakert has some 49,000 of Karabakh’s 135,000 residents,
leaving about 86,000 in either the towns of Mardakert (4,200) or
Shoushi (4,100) or in villages that range in size from 2 residents in
Aghbradzor, to Chartar’s 2,100. (Numbers are based on the 2005, the
latest, census. Projections put the total population at about 140,000
since the time of the census.)

While in the capital Wi-Fi internet access connects Stepanakert to the
world, in villages communication includes the warning of barking dogs
and the alarm of morning roosters.

And while days begin sooner and end sooner, the hard work goes on and on . . .

Sos: Aging on the vine

Vineyards stretch along a section of the Martuni region’s highway,
leading to the village of Sos, which is known for its wine varieties.

The village that has a history of about 150 years, today has around
1,056 residents who went through the crucible of war to continue to
live and build their native village up.

Sos village mayor Hunan Grigorian says that people in the village are
mainly engaged in growing wheat, corn, barley and buckwheat. Sos also
has mulberry orchards. Generally, horticulture, especially
grape-growing, is quite developed in the village. Almost all villagers
have their own vineyards, but many say the wholesale price at which
grapes are purchased from them is not very profitable.

`Agriculture is the most unpredictable sector of the economy. One year
you may have nothing and the next year such bumper crops that people
would have problems selling all their produce,’ says the mayor. This
year the price of wholesale grapes was a penny or two higher than
last, and villagers made enough to pay off debts. `But no one knows
what will happen next year,’ says Grigorian.

Like other villages in Armenia and Karabakh, Sos’ age demographic is a
concern. Young people see little future in village life. Those who
can, leave.

Naira Mangasarian, 58, who has worked as an educator at the Sos
village’s kindergarten for 38 years, voices concern about the growing
out-migration of young people. The village is building a new
kindergarten, however, the teacher says the number of children of
pre-school age in the village decreases each year.

The veteran teacher says that even during the years of war the
kindergarten never closed its doors, but today only two kindergarten
groups are functioning, with 46 children attending. Before the war
there were more than 100 pre-school age children in the village.

`Our villagers are very hard-working people, there are many gardens
and orchards, there are privatized lands. But the harvest is not
always good. People don’t know what to do to get results from their
work. There isn’t any establishment or factory, and young people need
jobs to keep them in the village. That’s why young people want to go
to towns and cities,’ says Mangasarian.

Sos’s secondary school has 175 students, while before the war the
number of students was nearly 300.
The only place for leisure for local young people is a ping-pong hall
recently built near the village administration office. Since 2009 the
village has also had an Internet club with six computers.

But there are also young people in the village who are taking small
steps towards the world of business.
Artsakh State University history department student Artsakh Manasian
has been engaged in grape-growing and winemaking for several years
now.

`I have two hectares (about 5 acres) of vineyards, and I supply some
of the yield to Stepanakert’s brandy factory, and I use some to make
wine myself,’ says the 23-year-old villager. He adds that soon he is
going to make a 3.5-million-dram (about $8,500) business plan for the
construction of a wine cellar that he says even at the initial stage
will create two news jobs.

Drmbon: 320 residents; 1,340 employees

The village of Drmbon, sits near the Tartar River and about 20 miles
to the southwest of the Martakert regional center. It is there that
during the first days of the Karabakh Liberation Movement volunteer
militia groups were formed and beginning from September 1992 they
participated in defense and liberation battles in Martakert and
Askeran as part of the Martakert defense units.

Drmbon has about 320 residents, some of whom raise cattle. But the
majority of the local residents are employed by Base Metals of Valex
Group, founded in 2002, at a copper and gold mine not far from the
village.

While deposits in the Drmbon mine are running low now, the company
continues to remain one of Karabakh’s largest taxpayers, accounting
for up to 15 percent of tax revenues (in 2007, some 45 percent of tax
revenues in Karabakh were ensured due to the company).

The company works on a 24-hour basis, providing employment not just to
Drmbon residents and other residents of the Martakert province, but
also to many from Armenia.

Environmentalists in Armenia and Karabakh often voice concerns about
damage caused by the mining industry to the local environment, however
those issues are weighed against the more pressing matter of
employment.

Base Metals Technical Control Division head Ararat Ghardian says that
the company today employs 1,340, with average monthly salaries of
180,000 drams (about $450) – nearly double the average Karabakh
salary.

`We have employees from every district in Artsakh. Ninety percent of
the [working-age population] from nearby villages work at Base
Metals,’ says Ghardian.

Lusine Barseghian, a 20-year-old resident of Kochoghot village,
Martakert province, has worked in a Base Metal laboratory unit for two
years. She combines work with her studies.

`I get a monthly salary of 70,000 drams (about $170), I can pay the
fee for my studies and also have some money left for daily expenses. I
wouldn’t be able to work or study if I remained in the village,’ says
Barseghian.

Goghtanik: From five families to 23

Goghtanik is a happy, if slow-growing exception, to the trend of
villages getting smaller.

The village, founded in 1995, is situated about 18 miles from Berdzor,
the regional center of the NKR district of Kashatagh, on a slope of
one of the three gorges stretching northward.

The current village mayor, Lusya Baghdasarian, is from Yerevan. Along
with her family she moved to Karabakh in 1996.

`My husband participated in the war and he always used to say that the
important thing wasn’t only liberating those lands, but also keeping
them by living there,’ says Baghdasarian, adding that she has already
forgotten the hardships of the years when there was no transportation
from the village towards the regional center and, if absolutely
necessary, they had to go on foot to get to the town.

`When we had just moved to our new place there were only five families
in the entire village, but now we are 23 households, and five of them
are large families, some raising even as many as eight children,’ says
the village mayor.

Some of those large families participated in a mass baptismal in
Berdzor in October, where more than 50 children from surrounding
villages were baptized.

Today Goghtanik is home to 108, and the village’s secondary school has
27 students, while just three years ago, it had only six. The
community leader says that the number of students in the village will
increase soon as the birthrate is now on the rise.

However, the village doesn’t have a kindergarten, a community club or
a health center. There isn’t even a proper village administration
office in Goghtanik.

`For the village administration office we are using part of our house
until we see what other space we can get. All issues will be solved in
the course of time. In the meantime it is important to keep the
village,’ says Baghdasarian, adding that a majority of Goghtanik’s
population are young people, who earn their keep from raising
livestock.

Chartar: Making culture a priority

The largest village in Karabakh, Chartar, is only a few kilometers
from Sos in the Martakert province. The village with more than 2,000
residents has the appearance of a military regiment, as most of its
adult males are contract military men. Chartar residents say proudly
that their village has produced the highest number of senior military
officers.

A part of the cultural house in the center of Chartar, which looks
like a smaller model of the Soviet-built Aram Khachatryan Philharmonic
Building in Yerevan, has served as an art school since February, 2011.
Five departments of the school are attended by 170 students both from
Chartar and surrounding villages. Classes at the school are free.

`At the art school, we emphasize developing the village’s cultural
life,’ says the art school’s director Apres Margarian. `The children
attending the school will not necessarily continue their education in
this profession, but studying arts will help them a lot in life.’

Khnushinak: Hard conditions, but no emigration

Next to Chartar is the Martuni region’s Khnushinak village, where the
scars of war haven’t healed even more than 18 years after a ceasefire
that brought fragile peace to the region.

Khnushinak’s 35-year-old resident Senorik Sargsian’s ancestral house
was destroyed in a bombing during the war. For more than ten years now
together with his wife and four children he has rented homes from his
relatives and friends.

`Although the house was destroyed with a Grad missile, in the initial
period we still could live in it, but a strong wind ripped its roof
off, and we narrowly saved the children out of the wreckage,’ says
Sargsian, who adds that he has repeatedly applied to relevant state
bodies for help getting a home, however he hasn’t heard back yet.

In Khnushinak, which has 645 residents, the Sargsian family is not the
only one that remains without their own home and has lived in
difficult social conditions after the war, but the village mayor says
that there is almost no emigration from the village. Wheat and grape
cultivation are the main livelihoods.

`In 2012 we harvested more than 570 tons of grapes, while in previous
years the harvest did not exceed 470 tons,’ says village mayor Hamlet
Tevosian as he pours home-made bubbly champagne-like wine into
glasses.

Khnushinak’s school is attended by 100 students, who also participate
in different interest and activity groups.

In the evening in the renovated gym of the school the village youth
gather for volleyball games to prepare for regional competitions.

As the sun goes down, men in villages such as Khnushinak usually
gather in some central location, such as near a store, to exchange
news of the day and talk about other developments, enjoying the last
evenings of the ending velvet autumn.

Nor Maragha: Making life `new’ again

When on the night of April 10, 1992 the Markosian family was fleeing
their village, barely escaping death at the hands of advancing Azeri
forces, little did they know that years later they would settle down
in a new village, tens of kilometers away from their native one, but
named after it.

Misha Markosian, now 72, was one of the last residents of Maragha who
managed to escape almost unscathed from what was a massacre of
Armenians, with his last glance at his native village and house
imprinted in his mind till today.

That night, Azeris entered the village of Maragha, in the Martakert
province near the border between Karabakh and Azerbaijan, slaughtering
more than half of the 118 people who remained there by that time,
while subjecting the rest to various forms of violence. (A 1989 –
pre-war – census found 6,500 residents in Maragha.)

`We owned a two-storey house with everything in it; four rooms
upstairs, four rooms downstairs. We left all our property and
belongings there and ran for our lives,’ says Misha Markosian’s
63-year-old wife Susanna as she wipes tears from her cheeks.

`At first we stayed for a few days in an abandoned Azeri village where
we found a bed and a map of Baku. We spread the map over that bed, I
was wearing soft slippers, and we used them as pillows and slept
somehow. We kept axes next to us all the time to defend ourselves if
Azeris came,’ remembers Susanna.

A majority of re-settlers in Nor (`New’) Maragha, a village founded in
1995, share similar fates and bear a heavy burden of pain and the
feeling of refugees who had lost everything.

Most of them came from Maragha, Margushevan, Leninavan and other
villages that fell under Azeri control during the 1992-1994 Karabakh
war.

In 2000, as part of the Karabakh resettlement program, new residential
houses were provided to residents in Nor Maragha, while several houses
left by Azeris had been rebuilt.

`When we were running away, by night, with my grandchildren in my
arms, under missiles flying over our heads, without even a hope of
surviving, little did we imagine that one day we would have a home
again. But in 2000 we celebrated the New Year in a new house, with new
hopes and expectations,’ says Misha, whose house is in what is called
the upper district of Nor Maragha which now has 400 residents.

Misha and Susanna live in a two-room house with a balcony. The
Markosians’ children (they had three, but one died in an accident),
like many, left for Russia immediately after the war and have remained
there.

The Markosians say they have a good life. From time to time the
children send money from Russia, but the couple’s needs are met mostly
by living off New Maragha’s fertile land. They also have four cows,
chickens, and more than two dozen sheep.

Not far from the Markosians’ house is a one-storey school that was
built in 2004.

The school in Nor Maragha, which was establishment as an institution
in 1997, today has 22 teachers and 71 students. Until 10 years ago the
number of students was no more than 35.

The school’s 56-year-old principal Lyuba Grigorian moved to Nor
Maragha from the Armenian town of Metsamor in 2000. She went there as
part of an Armenian government program that provided housing and
salaries for teachers who would relocate to Karabakh.

Grigorian says that the village expands from year to year and its
conditions are improving.

`The position of our village is very good. It stays green 12 months a
year. In general, there is no better place than Artsakh. We feel very
good here, our only concern is that there is no war again,’ says
Grigorian.

According to the school principal, Nor Maragha’s children are very
smart and every year’s graduates manage to enter colleges or
universities. Some have returned from university to teach in the
village school.

Until 2003, Nor Maragha was still considered to be a `danger zone’
because of landmines left after the war. Villager founder Vazif
Hambartsumian was killed by a landmine in 2000.

But by 2003, the village had been completely cleared of mines thanks
to British charity Halo Trust’s de-mining projects.

In the middle of Nor Maragha there are two village stores arranged
side by side. One of them, however, shut down recently because of
failing to make a profit. Retailers in this Karabakh village, just
like in villages in Armenia, have several thick copybooks called `debt
lists’ with names of villagers who owe money to the shop.

Behind the shops is an old building that had survived a bombing. Now
it serves as a village administration office. And in the distance
there is a small area occupied by the village cemetery, the resting
place, so far, of about two dozen villagers.

There are more than 50 children of pre-school age in Nor Maragha, but
the village has no kindergarten. And young people are mainly engaged
in farming, while some are contract-based military servicemen.

And although life in Nor Maragha continues to move forward, local
residents still deeply feel the sorrow of the past events imprinted as
wrinkles. The same wrinkles cover a cherished hope that one day they
could return to their native villages and see their original homes
again.

`Today, in Nor Maragha, we have very good conditions. Our house is
very good, I like it very much. Thank God, we have everything, the
house, the land… We started everything from scratch, now we keep
livestock, cultivate land, but like swallows we still want our old
nest,’ says Nor Maragha’s 52-year-old resident Violeta Dumanian. She
is originally from Leninavan, which is now under Azeri control. She
then starts counting out how many graves of relatives they left behind
in their native village . . .

Philippe Lefort reaffirmed support of EU to the efforts of OSCE Minsk
group aimed at the peaceful settlement of NKR issue

20:17, 7 March, 2013

YEREVAN, MARCH 7, ARMENPRESS: Armenian Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian on March 7 hosted Philippe Lefort, European Union Special
Representative (EUSR) for the South Caucasus and the crisis in
Georgia.

As Armenpress was informed from press, informational and public
relations department of MFA, during the meeting interlocutors had
discussed the results of latest non-official Eastern Partnership
meeting in Tbilisi, as well as preparatory works on upcoming Eastern
Partnership summit in Vilnius.

Interlocutors referred to the process of peaceful settlement of
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. European Union Special Representative has
once again reaffirmed support of EU to the efforts of OSCE Minsk group
aimed at the peaceful settlement of NKR issue.