Author: Kajoyan Gevork

MISINFORMATION AT THE NEW YORK TIMES

13:50, October 5, 2012

The following article about Artsakh, titled “Off the Map in the
Black Garden,” and written by journalist Russ Juskalian, appeared in
the Sept. 21, 2012 edition of the New York Times.

On Sept. 30, Lucine Kasbarian of NJ and MA sent a letter (please
see below) to the NY Times in response. To date, the paper has not
published her letter. She has granted her permission for it to be
published here.

To the Editors:

It was disappointing to see an article about the rarely
written-about Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR, or Artsakh, its ancient
Armenian name), miss its mark (“Off the Map in the Black Garden,”
Sept. 21;

a-region-in-the-southern-caucasus.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0).

Writer Russ Juskalian’s curiosity about his ancestry prompted his
visit to this historically Armenian territory, and yet his
reporting demonstrates a failure to grasp certain fundamental facts.

Armenian Karabakh was given to Azerbaijan in 1923 by Josef Stalin
to placate Turkey — kin to Turkic Azerbaijan. A natural desire
by Karabagh Armenians to be reunited with Armenia, driven by the 1988
Azeri pogroms of Armenians in Sumgait, propelled the
Armenian self-defense movement that culminated in the Karabakh War
(1988-1994).

Juskalian’s article improperly states that the War originated
because of pogroms on both sides and falsely claims that genocided
Armenians genocided civilians beyond the battleground. He thus
perpetuates falsehoods and trivializes a victorious struggle against
oppression, especially when his article appears on the Armenian
independence anniversary and following a deplorable Azeri act.

In a move that shocked the world conscience, on August 31, Azerbaijan
pardoned, promoted and celebrated a convicted and extradited Azeri
lieutenant who savagely hacked to death a sleeping Armenian lieutenant
attending a NATO “Partnership for Peace” program in Hungary.

One must wonder why NATO and the “great policeman of the world”
have done nothing about it. On September 25, Azeri snipers killed a
19-year old Armenian soldier, the latest in countless Azeri killings
across the line of contact. Why mislead readers about politics on
the ground by publishing an NKR travel article when even NATO will
not enter the region to control naked Azeri aggression, which is a
routine occurrence?

Sincerely,

Lucine Kasbarian

Teaneck, NJ

“DIGITECH” OPENING CEREMONY ANNOUNCED BY ARMENIAN PRESIDENT

ARMENPRESS
5 October, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 5, ARMENPRESS: Current year Armenian information
technology sector “Digitech” annual expo was launched with the slogan
“Technology holiday for Armenians”. The ceremony kicked off on October
5 and is set to last for three days. Serzh Sargsyan the President of
the Republic of Armenia, Tigran Davtyan Minister of Economy, Armen
Ashotyan Minister of Education, businessmen and public figures were
participating in the opening ceremony.

Over 120 local, Korean, Singaporean, Russian, Georgian, German, Italian
and American companies in comparision with previous year 113 were
participating in “Digitech 2012” expo. “For the first time Italian
“ImagingLab” , experienced in robot techniques and elaboration of
images is participating in the expo” Karen Vardanyan, head of Union
of Information Technology Enterprises told Armenpress.

Korean Republic participation namely Korean National ICT development
Agency, Chamber of Commerce and other organizations is one of the
achievements of the event. ” We mostly expect increase in the number
of visitors , more than twenty thousand people ” Vardanyan stated.

The primary goal of “Digitech” is the creation of friendly environment
between high-tech companies, businesses and consumers. The expo
enables a chance to study the true picture of the ICT field in Armenia,
understand, get acquainted with the achievements, current challenges
and opportunities. It tends to expand international ties.

Various seminars, discussions and demonstrations are scheduled to be
launched in the course of expo.

HELD HEARINGS ON RAMIL SAFAROV’S EXTRADITION AND CLEMENCY AT PA CE

APA
Oct 5 2012
Azerbaijan

“International and legal standards of Azerbaijan make Ramil Safarov’s
extradition and clemency possible”

Strasbourg. Fuad Gulubeyli-APA. Today, as part of the autumn session
of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the
plenary session discussed the Ramil Safarov issue, APA reports.

APA’s correspondent at CE reports that although following the
discussions on the matter was not taken any documents, was held
heated discussions.

Since PACE Bureau commissioned an investigation by the Committee on
Legal Affairs and Human Rights, on the chairman of the committee,
British MP Christopher Chop.

During the discussions, along with European and Armenian deputies
were 5 members of the Azerbaijani delegation to the PACE.

C.Chop, informed the participants about the background of the
problem, murder of the Armenian officer in Budapest G.Markaryan by
Ramil Safarov, where both were on a NATO exercise, extradition and
then clemency.

Giving legal assessment of the issue, C.Chop noted that international
and legal norms of Azerbaijan, make it possible extradite and clemency
Ramil Safarov: “In this matter, there are only details of the over-use
of law as well as things that irritate the other side” .

By European MPs condemn Safarov’s extradition and clemency, but noted
that Azerbaijan and Hungary complied with all rules and regulations
Strasbourg Convention, and the incident is within the framework of
international law.

European MPs stressed that “they care about the moral side of the
question.” They stated that this event may exacerbate relations
between the two countries that are in conflict.

Note that at PACE is recommended to discuss Safarov issue not in the
context of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. But European deputies in
their speeches on the subject raised the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict and expressed desire on the speedy resolution of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

Lawmakers from Hungary in their speeches said that their country does
not violate international law. According to them, Hungary has taken
into account in this regard the moral aspect of the case. Hungarian
MPs called “nonsense” statements about the existence of any business
agreements between Azerbaijan and Hungary to address the issue of
Ramil Safarov.

PACE co-rapporteur on Azerbaijan Pedro Agramunt also expressed regret
over the matter. He noted that Armenia has occupied 20% of Azerbaijani
lands, resulting in hundreds of thousands of people became refugees
and IDPs.

At the discussions the most aggressive attitude demonstrated by
Armenian and French deputies. They called on PACE and the Council of
Europe apply specific sanctions againist Azerbaijanin connection with
Ramil Safarov.

Member of Azerbaijani delegation to PACE Adyin Abbasov said
that Armenians by politicizing this legal issue in the Assembly
intends to pressure on Azerbaijan. Abbasov spoke in detail about
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the occupation policy of Armenia,
the tragedies that result from conflict, stressed the importance of
a speedy solution to the conflict.

Other MPs from Azerbaijan and Turkey in their speech spoke about the
facts of murders of Turkish diplomats and French citizens by Armenian
terrorists in the last century.

It was noted that the perpetrators of these crimes, then were pardoned
on their arrival in Armenia organized grand event, as do the killers
were extolled as heroes.

MPs from Azerbaijan in his speech stressed that the investigation
of the matter out of the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
is wrong.

Recall that the current discussion in the Assembly, entitled “Ramil
Safarov issue” were added to the agenda of PACE as a current issue,
and the structure is not taken on the matter any legal documents,
as well as soft-law instruments.

ARMENIA TO LIMIT SCRAP METAL EXPORTS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF OWN PROCESSING

Kyiv Post
Oct 4 2012
Ukraine

Yerevan – The government of Armenia intends to impose restrictions
on the export of ferrous and non-ferrous metal scrap with the aim of
ensuring a raw stock base for the country’s own re-processing plants.

A bill introducing changes to Armenian law on state duties was adopted
at an October 4 government meeting. According to procedure, the bill
is to now be submitted for parliamentary approval.

The changes involve the introduction of an export duty 80 times the
size of the basic duty per tonne of ferrous scrap and 250 times the
size for non-ferrous scrap.

Finance Minister Vache Gabrielian, who presented the draft bill, said
that the change is intended to encourage secondary metal processing
in Armenia. “We are thereby creating an opportunity for the more
effective use of the processing capacity we have in Charentsavan
and other places, and to obtain finished product in the republic,”
the minister said.

Production in Charentsavan is being set up by OJSC Aske Group, which
has raised $15 million from Ameriabank for the building there of
the republic’s first rolling mill for the production of rebar. It is
slated to go into operation early next year. The company’s director,
Hachatur Antonian, said the rolling mill’s output capacity will be
125,000 tonnes per year against domestic market volume of 50,000
tonnes, which leaves room for exports. Scrap the republic possesses
will serve as raw stock.

Armenia does not now produce rebar, and imports it mainly from Ukraine.

The Aske Group plant in Charentsavan had been smelting pig iron and
steel, but has been mothballed for the last several years. From 1986 to
2002, the enterprise was part of the production association ArmAvto
(a producer of steel bearings and wheel sets), but since 2002 it
has been a separate legal entity. The company has 377 shareholders,
main among them Moroko Holding (49%) and Mikhail Aryutyunian (50%).

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT SELLS GOVERNMENTAL BUILDING

Vestnik Kavkaza
Oct 4 2012
Russia

The Armenian government decided to sell the building of the government,
the seat of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic for $
51,271,000, News Armenia reports.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry building, constructed in the 1940s is
located in the Republic Square in the center of Yerevan.

The building was purchased by the company “Tango”, owned by an
Argentinean businessman of Armenian origins.

LOST IN TRANSLATION ON ROAD TO ARMENIA

The National
Oct 5 201
UAE

Chris Guillebeau
Oct 5, 2012

Chris Guillebeau, 33, is the author of The Art of Non-Conformity
and The $100 Startup. He is on a five-year mission to visit every
country in the world, and is on number 189. In his latest dispatch,
he visits Armenia.

I set out for a run in Armenia. The temperature was perfect-too cold
for walking, but after five minutes of jogging I was feeling great.

Passing by revolutionary statues and people warming their hands,
I thought about where I had been recently and what lay ahead.

Over the past week I had been in Tbilisi, Georgia, and loved everything
about it. It was a magical, enchanted city. I spent time in cafes
and walked the Old City, climbing to the Narikala Fortress that
overlooks the outlying area. Before Georgia, I was in Azerbaijan,
making the overland transit by overnight train.

As always, I had to keep moving. I got up early and took a taxi to the
bus station. From there, I asked around, using the one-word question:
“Yerevan?” The capital of Armenia, it was my next destination.

When I started travelling, I worried about not knowing languages. How
would I possibly get by? One of the first important lessons I learnt
was that there’s nothing to fear. Even without a common language,
people will always help you.

The guys in the bus office didn’t speak English but asked around on
my behalf and one of them directed me to a waiting minibus. This kind
of transport doesn’t leave until the bus is full but I was in luck –
we set off within half an hour.

A younger passenger spoke some English, so we chatted about my journey
and he shared a basket of bread with me. Since the trip was six hours,
most people had stocked up on provisions. I contributed a granola
bar and felt bad I didn’t have more to share.

I asked why everyone was travelling. Some people were traders, it
seemed, moving frequently between borders. Others had families on
either side. A few seemed to be in the process of migrating, looking
for new opportunities.

We came to the border stop, where we had to clear immigration on
both sides. I love airports, but there is much more life in changing
countries on the ground. You usually have to visit at least two
offices, one on either side, and pass through “no-man’s-land” in the
middle, a confusing passage that usually involves walking a gauntlet
between touts and money-changers.

With only minimal paperwork, I received my stamps and paid for the
Armenian visa with a US$50 bill (Dh184). Thankfully, I didn’t delay
the other passengers, something that happens from time to time when
I’m the only one with a Western passport.

Two hours later, our minibus reached Yerevan. Success! I said farewell
to the other travellers and set off to find my guesthouse.

Later, after my run, I stopped by a Georgian restaurant for spinach
pie and sweet red wine, reading from a magazine and making notes in
my journal about the past week.

I would leave Yerevan a few days later by 4am airport taxi. This had
been a good trip and I looked forward to returning – but I had to
keep going.

Kocharian’s possible comeback still discussed – paper

October 6, 2012 – 20:09 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Asked by Haykakan Zhamanak daily’s reporter if
second president of Armenia Robert Kocharian may run for president in
2013, Kocharian’s office head Victor Soghomonyan said the issue hadn’t
been discussed.

`I neither rule out, nor confirm the possibility. I simply say that
the issue was not discussed with the ex-president,’ he said.

Kocharian’s possible comeback has recently become one of the most
talked about issues in political and social circles. Media publication
was released earlier, according to which ex-president already invited
foreign PR-experts to prepare the ground for his comeback. Moreover,
Mr. Soghomonyan’s reply proves that the issue is not closed yet, the
paper says.

Third round of Armenia-EU talks on deep and comprehensive trade
scheduled for December 3-5 in Brussels

YEREVAN, October 5. / ARKA /. The third round of Armenian-EU
negotiations on deep and comprehensive free trade area are scheduled
for December 3-5 in Brussels, the Armenian ministry of economy said
today.

It said the second round was held in Yerevan on October 2-4 October.
The Armenian delegation was led by deputy economy minister Garegin
Melkonyan, the EU delegation was led by the head of Europe and Central
Asia department of the trade directorate of the European Commission
Luc Pierre Devin.

The sides were said to have discussed the legal texts of the agreement
in ten different areas – trade in goods, competition, technical
barriers to trade, customs issues, sustainable development,
intellectual property rights, rules of origin, transparency,
protection of trade, sanitary and phyto-sanitary facilities.

The sides were said to have registered propgress in all areas. They
have also reconciled legal texts in two directions. Upon the
completion of this round of negotiations they signed a document that
sets out the obligations and agreements of the parties in preparation
for the next round.

In the third round the sides will continue talks on all these areas
and will discuss also four draft texts covering trade in services,
government procurement, and energy.

On February 27 the EU’s Trade Commission decided to launch
negotiations on a deep and comprehensive free trade area with Armenia
to boost economic growth and investment. The launch of the trade
negotiations was conditioned upon Armenia fulfilling a set of `key
recommendations’. These were issued in June 2009 and covered necessary
reforms in key regulatory areas related to trade, in order to prepare
Armenia for the upcoming negotiations. -0-

Armenian PM speaks to diaspora journalists

news.am
October 06, 2012 | 13:19

Armenia’s Premiere Tigran Sargsyan met with participants of the Sixth
Pan-Armenian Conference of Journalists.

`You are at the `battle’ front. Whoever wins in the information field
will govern the modern-day world. In the information field it is
important to raise our national issues and to act collectively,’
Sargsyan noted.

He stressed that Armenia’s Government cooperates with numerous
Armenian institutions worldwide, and recalled that a state commission
has been formed to coordinate the Armenian Genocide’s 100th
anniversary events, the Government press service informs.

Responding to a journalist’s query on the likelihood of Turkey
recognizing the Genocide one day, Armenia’s PM noted: `Armenia greatly
underscores that a class of freethinking intellectuals, who recognize
the fact of the Armenian Genocide, has formed in Turkey today. At
numerous international institutions Turkey will be obligated to accept
the reality of the Genocide.’

In Tigran Sargsyan’s words, Armenia cannot retreat from its true and
righteous principles. `We must continue the fight irrespective of what
countermeasures Turkey will resort to,’ he said.

Harut Sassounian, publisher of The California Courier, reflected on
the Syrian-Armenians’ issues and proposed that the `Hayastan’
All-Armenian Fund’s telethon for this year be devoted to them. In this
connection, the PM said: `Armenia’s President already has made such
recommendation. We are discussing the matter at present.’ Also, Tigran
Sargsyan noted that the Government of Armenia must do everything
within its capacity so that the Syrian Armenians can feel the care
shown toward them.

A Georgian-Armenian journalist asked about the course of
Armenian-Georgian ties. In this regard the PM stressed that regardless
of who sits at the helm of Georgia’s authorities, Armenia will do
everything so that bilateral relations become excellent. `We respect
the Georgian people’s decision and we need to build very good
relations with Georgia,’ the Prime Minister said.

Tigran Sargsyan also reflected on the Armenia-EU ties, ongoing reforms
in Armenia, and other matters of the journalists’ interest.

Subsequently, Armenia’s Premier presented awards to the
representatives of several Diaspora-Armenian media outlets for their
operative and objective coverage of national issues.

Turks file lawsuit against Israel over 2010 Mavi Marmara raid

October 6, 2012 – 13:06 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Thirty-three family members of Turkish activists who
participated in the Mavi Marmara flotilla heading to Gaza in 2010
filed a lawsuit against Israel, demanding compensation after the fatal
IDF raid, The Jerusalem Post reported citing Turkish Hurriyet daily.

According to the report, the families of Furkan Do��an, Cevdet K�±l�±çlar
and Necdet YÃ?±ldÃ?±rÃ?±m, who were killed during the navy’s interception of
the flotilla, are suing Israel seeking moral and financial
compensation that mounts 10 million Turkish liras, or USD 5 million.

Thirty other persons who were injured in the interception are also
filing for compensation.