Author: Kajoyan Gevork

ARMENIA SHOULD DEVELOP MOST PROMISING AND ATTRACTIVE INVESTMENT SECTORS

YEREVAN, April 16. /ARKA/. Armenia needs to make every effort to
develop the most promising sectors with high investment appeal,
Armenia’s minister of economy Karen Chshmarityan said in his exclusive
interview to Golos Armeniyi newspaper.

According to the report of the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD), these fields are agricultural processing and
production of building materials, the minister said.

International organizations, banks and institutional investors are
currently closely watching these fields, but a lot remains to be done
in these areas for development, Chshmarityan said.

The current level of efficiency in Armenia’s agriculture is three times
as low as in industry, the minister said. At the same time, in terms
of production of building materials, the minister praised the strict
approaches of the ministry of energy and natural resources towards
companies that have licenses, yet fail to do what they should do.

The companies that fail permanently to perform should free the space
for proper investors and efficient owners, the minister said. It is
unacceptable to have only 25 % of all licensed companies operating
actually, Chshmarityan said. -0–

REMOVAL OF SANCTIONS WON’T HAVE DRAMATIC IMPACT ON ARMENIA-IRAN TIES

Thursday 16 April 2015
Photo: Photolure

Sevak Sarukhanyan

Banks.am’s interview with Sevak Sarukhanyan, visiting Fulbright Fellow
at Georgetown University

– What particular impact might the lift or loosening of Western
sanctions on Iran have on Armenian-Iranian trade-economic ties? To
put it simply, what was impossible to do under the exposed sanctions?

– Positive expectations from the loosening or removal of sanctions
on Iran are exaggerated, while they won’t have any qualitative impact
on Armenian-Iranian relations.

The reason is that the sanctions affected 4 main sectors of Iranian
economy – oil, insurance, technologies (including arms) and financial
transactions. The economic cooperation between Armenia and Iran
did not involve any of these sectors, with the exception of the
financial sector. We did not import oil or oil products from Iran. The
insurance industry first of all involved the Iranian oil fleet. As to
technological cooperation, Armenia exported virtually nothing to Iran,
all the more arms.

The only sector of the Armenian economy, which might benefit from
the removal of sanctions, is cattle-breeding. The volumes of export
of mutton from Armenia to Iran have dramatically declined precisely
because of the sanctions: they first resulted in the depreciation of
the Iranian rial as a result of which mutton faced 40% fall in price
(in dollar equivalent) in the Iranian market.

It was then followed by the deficit of currency in which Iranians
were paying for imports from Armenia and other countries, and it
also had adverse impact on the export of meat to Iran. As soon as
the currency crisis is over in Iran and it will be over after the
sanctions are lifted, this sector will regain its positions.

– To what extent did sanctions affect the banking sectors of Armenia
and Iran?

– They did not have any major impact, although they could. After the
package of financial sanctions was imposed on the Islamic Republic
of Iran, Iranian banks and financial groups attempted to enter
regional financial markets in order to evade sanctions. In 2012,
there was information leakage by several anonymous sources from the
UN and World Bank according to which the Iranian party was displaying
interest in acquiring shares in two Armenian banks to ensure foreign
market entry through them.

However, these attempts were suppressed, and it was quite expected
considering the Armenian financial sector’s dependence on international
financial institutions.

In the meantime, Iran managed to carry out its plans in other
countries, first of all in Iraq and Turkey, which became the main
“hubs” of the currency influx to Iran as well as of illegal sales of
oil and gold. To date, the scandal over Turkish-Iranian businessman
Rıza Sarraf who, circumventing the sanctions, laundered around USD
50 billion for Iran through Turkish financial institutions has not
abated. However, Sarraf was acting together with Erdogan’s government,
which granted him even more freedom of action.

In view of the small scale of financial markets in Armenia as well
as the absence of significant political resources to support such
activities, the prospect of transforming the country into a zone of
laundering illegal Iranian money was impossible.

– There were opinions that the implementation of major infrastructure
projects, including the construction of joint HPP on the Araks was
also, in fact, delayed because of the sanctions. Are these opinions
justified?

-They are both justified and unjustified. It is clear that Iran needs
free capital for the construction of the HPP but the country lacks
them because of the deep macroeconomic crisis. However, it does not
mean Iran will invest in the project as soon as it has the resources.

So to speak, in terms of finances, once the sanctions are lifted Iran
will have a chance to invest in the project, but the practical prospect
depends on a whole series of circumstances, above all political.

The question how interested Iran will be in this project after the
sanctions are removed and after it returns to global economy remains
open, especially provided that Tehran has started reviewing its power
industry policy – previously new capacities were planned to ensure
higher consumption volumes, while presently the policy of introducing
energy efficiency technologies in current capacities has become a
key element of the energy policy.

– In a recent interview with Mediamax, Georgian Minister of Energy
Kakha Kaladze said that the southern route of the transit corridor
is “very interesting and prospective provided the establishment of
relevant legal environment.” Do you think Armenia, Georgia and Iran
will be able to engage in this and other trilateral projects after
the sanctions are removed?

– Of course, they can. But it requires the settlement of not only
legal, but also a number of practical issues, which are not directly
related to the absence of the contractual base – it refers to the
construction of new overhead transmission lines between Armenia and
Iran, which is being delayed although Armenia has abiding interest (or
should have abiding interest) in the implementation of this project.

Without overhead transmission lines, no development of
Armenian-Georgian cooperation in the power industry sector can create
a trilateral transit, as the possibilities of exchange between the
systems of Armenia and Iran are set in almost full motion and cannot
withstand any additional and considerable burden.

I would like to particularly note that after the exploitation of
Iran-Armenia gas pipeline energy cooperation between Armenia and Iran
did not undergo any new developments, which in my opinion, is not good
at all. We should take advantage as long as Iran is closed and as long
as Iran is politically interested in reinforcing ties with regional
neighbor states through even economically non-beneficial projects.

After all, as soon as Iranian gas enters European market and Iran
starts playing a “big game” on the international energy scene, it will
no longer show any interest in projects such as overhead transmission
lines in Armenia or joint HPP.

– Will the removal of sanctions create new prospects for Iran-Armenia
gas pipeline or is this issue fully in the field of Armenian-Russian
agreements in the energy sector?

– I don’t think so since in technical terms, as long as the
gas pipeline from Russia operates Armenia does not need higher
volumes of import of Iranian gas. There are many talks on that we
can purchase Iranian gas at lower prices than the Russian gas, but
these are theoretical arguments not supported by practice. Iran has
never sold cheap gas to anyone. Even Turkey, which is a strategically
important country for the future of the Iranian transit, spends months
negotiating over 10% gas discount.

I believe the maximum use of Armenia-Iran gas pipeline is beneficial
for “Gazprom” itself inasmuch as the Russian gas sold at USD 189
to Armenia (let alone the astronomical 10% gas left to Georgia for
transit) can be sold at way higher prices in foreign markets.

So, if there is a real prospect for lower gas prices, the Iranian gas
might come to replace the Russian on the initiative of Russia itself.

If it does not happen, it means one thing – there is no such prospect.

Meanwhile, for objective reasons, Armenia might need additional
volumes of gas from Iran after Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant is closed.

If electric power needs are covered by constructing new Thermal Power
Plants after the NPP is closed, then the pipeline from Russia to
Armenia might not be able to address increased supply volumes. The
gas pipeline, particularly its Georgian part, is in a bad and here
and then, in a deplorable state; Georgia makes minimal investments
in its modernization and security and it can make the increase of
Iran-Armenia gas pipeline capacity non-alternative, including to the
Russian owner of the Armenian gas transportation system.

– Some pessimistic scenarios were also voiced in Yerevan after the
meeting in Lausanne. In particular, the removal of sanctions was
said to result in a dramatic increase in the volumes of Iranian oil
supplies and as a consequence, in even a greater decrease in global
oil prices and new weakening of the Russian economy, while Russia is
Armenia’s main economic partner. What can you say on this?

-Oil is a commodity the price of which is determined not only based
on the volumes of production and consumption or on speculations,
but also on stir. The removal of sanctions will create a stir in the
market and the prices will drop, however, it will be temporary. And
there are several reasons for it.

First, nobody knows for certain how much gas Iran has actually exported
in the period of sanctions. The data provided by the Ministry of
Petroleum of Iran are one thing, and the reality is another. Given the
virtual absence of border between Iran and Iraq as well as the border
of oil-bearing Iranian Khuzestan with Iraq, Iran used to supply to
foreign market substantial volumes of Iranian oil as Iraqi. After the
sanctions are lifted it will continue to enter the foreign market but
as Iranian oil, which will not change anything in respect to volumes.

Second, Iranian oil-wells are often in a terrible state and cannot
secure dramatic increase in oil extraction. Around 80% of Iranian
wells were drilled before the Iranian (Islamic) Revolution. Over
the past years, no significant capital investments were made for
their preservation and safety. Iran’s current task is not to take
over the international oil market but to retain its position in it,
and it is impossible without substantial financial and technological
investments. In this regard, Iran needs five to ten years to fully
return to the global market and according to various estimates,
it will require investments to the tune of USD 50-150 billion.

Ara Tadevosyan and Khoren Ormanyan talked to Sevak Sarukhanyan

TURKEY RECALLS VATICAN AMBASSADOR AFTER POPE FRANCIS REFERENCES ‘GENOCIDE’

CNN Wire
April 12, 2015 Sunday 5:51 PM GMT

By Jethro Mullen, CNN

(CNN) — Pope Francis risked Turkish anger on Sunday by using the word
“genocide” to refer to the mass killings of Armenians a century ago
under the Ottoman Empire.

“In the past century, our human family has lived through three
massive and unprecedented tragedies,” the Pope said at a Mass at
St. Peter’s Basilica to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the
Armenian massacres.

“The first, which is widely considered ‘the first genocide of the
twentieth century,’ struck your own Armenian people,” he said,
referencing a 2001 declaration by Pope John Paul II and the head of
the Armenian church.

His use of the term genocide — even though he was quoting from the
declaration — upset Turkey.

The nation recalled its ambassador to the Vatican just hours after
Francis’ comments, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. Earlier, Turkey
summoned the ambassador from the Vatican for a meeting, Turkish state
broadcaster TRT reported.

In a tweet Sunday on his official account, Turkey’s Foreign Minister
Mevlut Cavusoglu called the Pope’s use of the word “unacceptable”
and “out of touch with both historical facts and legal basis.”

“Religious offices are not places through which hatred and animosity
are fueled by unfounded allegations,” the tweet reads.

More than a million massacred

Armenian groups and many scholars say that Turks planned and carried
out genocide, starting in 1915, when more than a million ethnic
Armenians were massacred in the final years of the Ottoman Empire.

Turkey officially denies that a genocide took place, saying hundreds
of thousands of Armenian Christians and Turkish Muslims died in
intercommunal violence around the bloody battlefields of World War I.

The Armenian government and influential Armenian diaspora groups have
urged countries around the world to formally label the 1915 events
as genocide. Turkey has responded with pressure of its own against
such moves.

Pope Francis said Sunday that “Catholic and Orthodox Syrians,
Assyrians, Chaldeans and Greeks” were also killed in the bloodshed
a century ago.

He said Nazism and Stalinism were responsible for the other two
“massive and unprecedented tragedies” of the past century.

CNN’s Gul Tuysuz in Turkey and Karen Smith in Atlanta contributed to
this report.

LET US COMPARE GENOCIDES

Religion News Service
April 14 2015

Jeffrey Salkin | Apr 14, 2015

This month is the one hundredth anniversary of the Armenian genocide.

That’s right — it’s a genocide. That’s exactly what Pope Francis
said recently — much to the chagrin of the Turkish regime, which
recalled its ambassador to the Vatican. Worse: Turkish Prime Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu said that calling the wholesale slaughter of Armenians
“genocide” is tantamount to “Islamophobia” — which wins this week’s
prize for “The Most Irresponsible Playing Of The Islamophobia Charge.”

Why should Jews be talking about this? Because when we look at the
Armenians, it is as if we are looking in the mirror.

The poet Joel Rosenberg writes:

I cite our landless outposts of diaspora…

I cite our neighboring quarters in the walled Jerusalem,

our holy men in black,

our past in Scripture,

and our overlapping sacred sites.

I cite our reverence for family ties,

our Middle Eastern food, our enterprise,

our immigration histories, our ironic manner, our eccentric uncles.

Our clustering in cities, our cherishing of books, our vexed and
aching homelands.”

Here’s how it happened. In the waning days of the Ottoman Empire,
the Armenians were seen as a foreign element in Turkish society –
and, in this sense, they occupied the same place as the Jews of the
Ottoman Empire. Like the Jews, the Armenian Christians challenged the
traditional hierarchy of Ottoman society. Like the Jews, they became
better educated, wealthier, and more urban. Like “the Jewish problem”
that would be frequently discussed in Germany, in Turkey they talked
about “the Armenian question.”

The Turkish army killed a million and a half Armenians. Sometimes,
Turkish soldiers would forcibly convert Armenian children and young
women to Islam. The Turks delved into the records of the Spanish
Inquisition and revived its torture methods. So many Armenian bodies
were dumped into the Euphrates that the mighty river changed its
course for a hundred yards.

in America, the newspaper headlines screamed of systematic race
extermination. Parents cajoled their children to be frugal with their
food, “for there are starving children in Armenia.” In 1915 alone,
the New York Times published 145 articles about the Armenian genocide.

Americans raised $100 million in aid for the Armenians. Activists,
politicians, religious leaders, diplomats, intellectuals and ordinary
citizens called for intervention, but nothing happened.

The Armenians call their genocide Meds Yeghern (“the Great
Catastrophe”). It was to become the model of all genocides and ethnic
cleansing. It served the Nazis well as a model. Not only the act of
genocide itself — but also, the passive amnesia about that genocide.

“Who talks about the Armenians anymore?” laughed Hitler.

One day in 1915, in the small town of Kourd Belen, the Turks ordered
eight hundred Armenian families to abandon their homes. The priest was
Khoren Hampartsoomian, age 85. As he led his people from the village,
neighboring Turks taunted the priest: “Good luck, old man. Whom are
you going to bury today?”

The old priest replied: “God. God is dead and we are rushing to
his funeral.”

Just as Elie Wiesel, writing in Night, recalled a child hanging
from a gallows in a concentration camp, his small body too light
to die immediately. “Where is God?” cries a prisoner. “Hanging on
the gallows.”

After the Shoah, Jews cried aloud to God: “O God, how could You do this
to us, the children of Your covenant?” After the genocide, Armenian
theologians cried: “O God, how could this have happened to us – for we
were the first people to adopt Christianity as a state religion?” Some
Armenian Christians referred to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah and
asked: “Were there not even fifty Armenians who could have been saved?”

After the Shoah, Jews cried: “We must have sinned. God has used the
Nazis as a club against us.” Armenians cried: “God used the Turks
as a club against us. We were a Christian nation, but we lived as
atheists.” Some Armenian Christians said: “If this is what God can
do to us, then God and Jesus Christ — you go your way, and I will
go mine. Don’t bother me anymore.”

Is it chutzpah to raise this, as Jews mark Yom Ha Shoah, and the
seventieth anniversary of the liberation of the camps? Some Jews have
wanted to hoard the concept of genocide — “What happened to the Turks
wasn’t as bad as the Holocaust!'” True, but that’s an extremely high
and ghastly bar to set. True — no genocide has approached the scale
of the Shoah. True — not every genocide is created equal.

Moreover, the very nature of the Armenian catastrophe was different.

Jews were killed wherever they lived in Europe; by contrast, Armenians
outside of Armenia were relatively safe. Anti-semitism is a deep,
pervasive moral illness; by contrast, there is no such thing as
“anti-Armenianism” in the collective psyche of the world.

But, If Jews do not allow the world to compare the Holocaust to other
genocides, then its relevance to the world will wither.

And when that happens, Jews would be inflicted by moral laryngitis,
losing their ability to speak truth to the world.

THE BOSTON GLOBE: ARMENIAN GENOCIDE WAS ALSO A JIHAD

11:10 15/04/2015 >> COMMENTS

Armenians were victims not only of genocide, but also of jihad.

Speaking at the Vatican during a Sunday Mass to mark the centenary
of the slaughter, the pope said it is “widely considered the first
genocide of the 20th century” — a quote from Pope John Paul II,
who used nearly the same words in 2001. But Francis went further,
equating the destruction of the Armenians to the Nazi Holocaust and the
Soviet bloodbaths under Stalin. And he linked the genocidal Ottoman
assault on Armenia, the world’s oldest Christian nation, with the
epidemic of violence against Christians today, especially by such
radical Islamist terror groups as ISIS, Boko Haram, and Al Shabab,
Jeff Jacoby wrote in his article in The Boston Globe.

Yet Turkish authorities weren’t always so reluctant to accurately label
the genocidal horror unleashed against the Armenians a century ago,
the author says.

Talaat Pasha, the powerful Ottoman interior minister during World War
I, certainly didn’t disguise his objective. “The Government . . . has
decided to destroy completely all the indicated [Armenians] persons
living in Turkey,” he brusquely reminded officials in Aleppo in a
September 1915 dispatch. “An end must be put to their existence . . .

and no regard must be paid to either age or sex, or to conscientious
scruples.”

US Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, flooded with accounts of the torture,
death marches, and butchery being inflicted on the Armenians,
remonstrated with Talaat to no avail. “It is no use for you to argue,”
Morgenthau was told. “We have already disposed of three quarters
of the Armenians. . . . The hatred between the Turks and Armenians
is now so intense that we have got to finish them. If we don’t,
they will plan their revenge. . . . We will not have the Armenians
anywhere in Anatolia.”

If some of them survived, it wasn’t for lack of effort by the killers.

Of the roughly 2 million Armenians living in the country in 1914,
90 percent were gone by 1918. The death toll was well over one
million; innumerable others fled for their lives. To read eyewitness
descriptions of the ghastly cruelties the Armenian Christians were
made to suffer a century ago is to be reminded that the jihadist
savagery of ISIS and Al Qaeda is not an innovation, the author notes.

That key fact is one the pope, to his credit, refuses to downplay:
Armenians were victims not only of genocide, but also of jihad. In
imploring his listeners on Sunday to hear the “muffled and forgotten
cry” of endangered Christians who today are “ruthlessly put to
death — decapitated, crucified, burned alive — or forced to leave
their homeland,” Francis was reminding the world that the price of
irresolution in the face of determined Islamist violence is as steep
as ever, the author says.

The jihadists of 1915 murdered “bishops and priests, religious women
and men, the elderly, and even defenseless children and the infirm.”

The world knew what was happening; the grisly details were extensively
reported at the time. Just as they are now, and with as little effect,
he concludes.

THE CONFLICT AROUND THE ‘G WORD’

Huffington Post
April 14 2015

Arzu Kaya Uranli , Independent Journalist & Lecturer

Pope Francis on last Sunday honored the 100th anniversary of the
slaughter of Armenians by calling it “the first genocide of the
20th century.”

Francis, who has close ties to the Armenian community from his days
in Argentina, defended his declaration by saying it was his duty to
honor the memory of the innocent men, women, children, priests and
bishops who were “senselessly” murdered.

A politically explosive pronouncement angered Turkey. After Pope
Francis had called the 1915 mass killings in Armenia a genocide, most
of the Turkish people are so disappointed and officials considers
the pope’s comments had caused a “problem of trust”.

Meanwhile, the reality star Kim Kardashian along with her husband,
Kanye West, and other family members are on a journey to Armenia to
mark the 100th anniversary of the “Armenian genocide” in Yerevan.

During the trip, a film crew will accompany them to shoot several
episodes of the reality series, Keeping up with the Kardashians.

Kardashian announced that she will be visiting the Tsitsernakaberd
Memorial in the capital, Yerevan, but will not attend any official
commemoration. Since her late father, Robert Kardashian, was a
third-generation Armenian-American, she has for years — and on
several occasions publicly — supported the international recognition
of the Armenian genocide, and now, for the first time, is visiting
Armenia. But Kim Kardashian is not the only one paying extra attention
to the issue this year.

Given that relations between Turkey and the U.S. have not been going
well recently, many people believe this might be the year when U.S.

President Barack Obama uses the “G word.” Forty-nine U.S. lawmakers
have already sent a letter urging President Obama to recognize the
“Armenian genocide.” They claim this move would somehow help improve
relations between Turkey and Armenia. As you might remember, during
the 2008 presidential race President Obama promised to recognize
“the mass killing of Armenians” as “genocide” and Armenian-Americans
are more hopeful that this year he will keep his promise.

The term “genocide” was first coined and defined by Polish lawyer
Raphael Lemkin in 1943 to describe the massacre of ethnic Armenians by
the Ottoman authorities in what is now Turkey. Armenians claim that
during World War I, 1.5 million Armenians were either killed or died
during forced exile in an intentional effort to completely destroy
the Armenian minority in Eastern Turkey. Nevertheless, despite Turkey
accepting that there were mass killings and forced deportations, as a
state it has argued that “genocide” is not an appropriate term. Turkey
has instead continued lobbying against the recognition of the 1915
events as genocide, arguing that the acts were a result of war and
that the number has been inflated.

I have just finished a book by Turkey’s Armenian journalist Hayko
Bagdat entitled The Snail (Salyangoz), and realized once more how
difficult it has been for the Armenian minority to be “the other”
in Turkey for centuries and that exile is only a small part of that
ongoing inequity. Recognition of this mass killing with a proper term
could be a strong starting point to heal the wounds in the hearts
of Armenians. Yet Ankara is not even close to expressing any form of
regret for what took place in history after all this time.

Ironically, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that the
100th anniversary of the Gallipoli Campaign of World War I would
be held on April 24. Choosing the same date that Armenians around
the world annually observe as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day is
absurd. Even pro-government Turkish-Armenian author and columnist
Etyen Mahcupyan, who currently serves as a top adviser to Prime
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, accused President Erdogan of not being
“chic” over the decision and claimed that Erdogan acted unethically
to gain nationalist votes during the June 7 election.

So far, 22 countries have formally recognized the historical event as
“genocide.” In addition, 43 American states have accepted its status
as such. Nonetheless, apparently, when it comes to the U.S., it seems
it is very important to Turkey if Obama uses the “G word.” Several
high-level Turkish officials have visited Washington since January
to convince the U.S. not to. Nowadays, Foreign Minister Mevlut
CavuÃ…~_oglu is expected to visit Washington just before Obama’s
statement for the same reason. The freshly established Turkish
Institute for Progress, a new Turkish-American lobby group that
aims to bring about reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia, has
neglected to label the 1915 killings.

Yet, it is certain that in 1915, an ‘outrageous thing’ happened in
Anatolia that had not taken place in the 1000 years before. Historians
have the task to find out what exactly happened in detail and
enlighten all related documents to create a single repository, so
that politicians on both sides can assess the findings and guide the
international community to make a decision to evaluate the situation.

Instead of fighting over whether what happened in 1915 is genocide or
not, why don’t we first consider it genoexile, a portmanteau meaning
“sending a race to exile”? Obviously, the techniques of destruction
used by the Americans against Native Americans or by the Germans
against Jews were different than what happened to the Armenians at
the moment.

While establishing Republic of Turkey to create a nation-state the
Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) pitted people against each
other. We all know today that Armenians were not the only victims of
this act, but Kurds, Alevits and all other minorities were as well.

What happened was not acceptable and the CUP was the responsible
party. Regardless, Turkey should apologize for those incidents of
its past because problems cannot be solved with announcements by
the Pope or the U.S. president. The problem can be solved only if
the Armenian nation and the Turkish nation work together. In the
twenty-first century, and within our communication age it’s about
time these two nations found a way to discuss this taboo. This is a
mutual sorrow that needs a mutual solution.

As a Turkish American, I whole-heartedly believe that rather than
lobbying the U.S. Congress at this time of year to stop using the “G
word,” we should be offering different solutions and creating a new
commemoration day. There is still profound grief over the issue and
100 years is long enough a period of denial. It is time we face it and
find a common ground to solve the conflict and heal the deep wounds.

For more Arzu Kaya-Uranli clickor follow her at @akuranli.

“ARMENIA” COGNAC RECIPE RECREATED AT YEREVAN BRANDY FACTORY

YEREVAN, April 15. /ARKA/. The Yerevan Brandy Factory presented on
Tuesday its famous “Armenia” cognac that was recreated using the
authentic recipe of master-blender Margar Sedrakyan.

The ten-year old “Armenia” cognac was created in 1940. Seventy-five
years later, the Yerevan Brandy Factory recreated the recipe to pay
tribute to the master and his love for his homeland, ArArAt brand
ambassador Kristina Ishkhanyan said at the presentation.

The new bottle and the label are made to be as similar to the ones of
the legendary cognac as possible. The recreated “Armenia” is one of
the vintage cognacs with extra after-coupage aging of not less than
three years. The additional after-coupage aging is about 10 years for
“Armenia”.

Margar Sedrakyan, who was born in Van and survived the 1915 genocide
of Armenians, devoted his lifetime (1932-1973) to Armenian brandy
production and created a series of vintage cognacs, including the
legendary “Dvin”, “Akhtamar” and “Nairi”. Along with the awards in
the home country, he also received the prestigious French Chevalier
du Degustation.

Yerevan Brandy Company is the exclusive producer of ARARAT Brandies is
the direct successor of Armenian brandy-making traditions, established
in 1887.

Yerevan Brandy Company is the biggest taxpayer of the field and the
biggest grape buyer. In 1999 Yerevan Brandy Company joined the Pernod
Ricard Group, the world co-leader of the Wine & Spirits industry,
which unites such brands as Chivas, Absolut, Martell, Jameson and
others. -0–

ERDOGAN ‘CONDEMNS’ POPE OVER GENOCIDE COMMENT, WARNS HIM NOT TO REPEAT ‘MISTAKE’

Buenos Aires Herald, Argentina
April 14 2015

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today said he “condemned”
Pope Francis for describing the slaughter of an estimated 1.5 million
Armenians by Ottoman Turks as “the first genocide of the 20th century”
and for urging the international community to recognize it as such.

Muslim Turkey accepts that many Christian Armenians died in clashes
with Ottoman soldiers beginning in 1915, when Armenia was part of
the empire ruled from Istanbul, but denies hundreds of thousands were
killed and that this amounted to genocide.

Erdogan responded to the Pope’s comments accusing Francis of spreading
hatred and “unfounded claims.”

“I condemn the Pope and want to warn him. I hope he won’t repeat a
mistake of this kind,” he said.

Pope Francis on Sunday described the massacre as “the first genocide
of the 20th century” at a 100th anniversary Mass, prompting Turkey
to summon the Holy See’s ambassador in Ankara in protest.

It was the first time a pope has publicly pronounced the word
“genocide” for the massacre, repeating a term used by some European
and South American countries but avoided by the United States and
some others to maintain good relations with an important ally.

Cristina Kirchner expressed her “solidarity” for the Armenian Genocide
Centennial

Agencia Prensa Armenia

President of Argentina Cristina Kirchner met this afternoon with
representatives of the Armenian Community of Argentina in Olivos
residence to “express her solidarity with the hundredth anniversary of
the Armenian Genocide,”

according to presidency press

The meeting was attended by Minister of Justice and Human Rights
Office, Julio Alak, along with Archbishop Kissag Mouradian, Primate of
the Armenian Apostolic Church, Alberto Djeredjian, president of the
Administrative Institution of the Armenian Church, Bartholome
Ketchian, representative of the Armenian National Committee of South
America, businessman Eduardo Eurnekian, president of the Corporation
America, Leon Arslanian, former Minister of Justice of the Nation, and
Dr. Daniel Stamboulian, president of FUNCEI.

( Link -> )
Agencia de Noticias Prensa Armenia
Armenia 1366, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Tel. (5411) 4775-7595
[email protected]
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U.S. STATE DEPT. CONDEMNS GENOCIDE, YET FAILS TO PRONOUNCE THE TERM

April 15, 2015 – 13:04 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The U.S. Department of State condemned the mass
killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in early 20th century, yet
failing once again to recognize them as genocide.

“The President and other senior Administration officials have
repeatedly acknowledged as historical fact and mourned the fact that
1.5 million Armenians were massacred or marched to their deaths in the
final days of the Ottoman Empire, and stated that a full, frank, and
just acknowledgement of the facts is in all our interests, including
Turkey’s, Armenia’s and America’s,” the acting spokesperson, Marie
Harf, said at the daily press briefing on Tuesday, April 14, when
asked to comment on Pope Francis’s statement characterizing the
massacres as the first genocide of the 20th century.

She further refused to comment on Ankara’s recalling the ambassador to
the Vatican following the Pope’s remarks or Barack Obama’s 2008
campaign promise to recognize the Armenian Genocide.