Author: Kajoyan Gevork

Armenian historians on Armenia’s independence

tert.am
15:25 – 28.05.12

A country that lost 1.5 million people had the strength to declare
Armenia’s first independence, Professor of History Babken Harutyunyan
told journalists on Monday.

That was a momentous event, he said.

Edik Minasyan, Dean of the Department of History, Yerevan State
University, said that `the first independence was the birth of heroic
battles of May.’

`The Third Republic is successor of the First Republic,’ Minasyan said.

According to him, the First Republic existed for only two years and a
half, but it had a large number of achievements.

`We had a regular army and realized its importance for state
consolidation. That was the basis for our victory in the Artsakh war,’
Simonyan said.

People’s love is the dearest prize, says Armenian singer

tert.am
19:23 – 27.05.12

Singer Arman Hovhannisyan, who was recently honored with the title of
Merited Artist, says the dearest prize for him is the audience’s love
and sympathy.

`To be honest, the people’s love and sympathy is the dearest and the
most important prize for me,’ he told Tert.am on Sunday.

But the young singer admitted in the meantime that he is not
absolutely against the title, especially that it was conferred the
president.

`When you are awarded the title by the state, especially by President
Serzh Sargyan, you face a great obligation which you are required to
keep up,’ he said, extending his gratitude to both the president and
the nation.

Armenia’s President lays wreath at Sardarapat Memorial

news.am
May 28, 2012 | 11:16

SARDARAPAT. – Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, accompanied by
National Assembly (NA) Speaker Samvel Nikoyan and PM Tigran Sargsyan,
visited the Sardarapat Memorial on Monday morning, and in connection
with the Republic Day.

Numerous members of Armenia’s executive and legislative power are at
Sardarapat, too, Armenian News-NEWS.am reporter informs from the
location. They laid a wreath to the Memorial, and, now, the President,
NA Speaker, and the PM are visiting the festive tables, tasting the
food and drinks, and congratulating everyone on this day.

To note, Armenia celebrates Monday the Republic Day.

The Armenian regular military forces and volunteers defeated the
Turkish troops, in May 1918, and thus prevented the latter’s invasion
of Armenia’s capital city Yerevan.

This triumph enabled the Armenian people to restore their statehood,
which was lost centuries ago.

It was 94 years ago on this day that the Armenian National Council
declared, in Tbilisi, Armenia’s independence and the creation of the
First Republic of Armenia.

The First Republic of Armenia has played an invaluable role in the
formation of the state governance bodies.

The May 28 celebrations in Armenia are traditionally held at the
Sardarapat Memorial, which eternalizes the memory of the Armenian
heroes who prevented a Turkish invasion of Armenia in 1918.

Trend, Azerbaijan
May 26 2012

BRIEF: Head of U.S. State of Connecticut supports Azerbaijan’s integrity

by E. Kosolapova, Trend News Agency, Baku, Azerbaijan

May 26–The Governor of the U.S. State of Connecticut, Dannel P.
Malloy supports Azerbaijan’s integrity, Azerbaijan Society of America
reported.

“The Republic of Azerbaijan is situated in the South Caucasus region
of Eurasia and has an area of 33,440 square miles, including the
Karabakh and Nakhchivan region, recognized by the United States and
the United Nations,” Malloy said in an official statement issued on
the eve of the Azerbaijani National Day.

Moreover, Malloy recognized the achievements of Azerbaijan Democratic
Republic created on May 28, 1918, and urges residents of Connecticut
to join Azerbaijan Society of America and Azerbaijani-American Council
in celebration of Azerbaijani National Day.

Trend, Azerbaijan
May 27 2012

Azerbaijan’s permanent representative to UN sends letter to Secretary General

Azerbaijan, Baku, May 27 / Trend /

Azerbaijan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations sent a
letter to UN Secretary General, expressing the protest in connection
with Armenia’s military parade in the Azerbaijani occupied town of
Khankendi.

“On May 9, 2012 the Armenian leadership has made another provocative
action by conducting a military parade in the town of Khankendi,
located in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan,” the
letter said. “Officially declared cause of holding parade, the
presence of Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan and demonstration of
weapons deserve special attention in the context of this outrageous
act.”

“According to the Armenian official sources, the parade was held on
the occasion of the sixty-seventh anniversary of the end of the Second
World War and the twentieth anniversary of the Armenian armed forces’
occupation of Shusha – Azerbaijani historical and cultural center in
Nagorno-Karabakh,” the letter said. “Taking into account the Armenian
policy of aggression, ethnic cleansing and annexation, celebrating
these two dates by the leadership of the country is contrary to
elementary logic. It demonstrates blatant disrespect for the memory of
millions of people who gave their lives for freedom from tyranny and
slavery during the Second World War, the letter said.

The Armenian President’s visit to the Azerbaijani occupied territories
and his presence at a military parade and demonstration of the most
modern weapons during the parade destroys the myth that Armenia’s
actions have nothing to do with the occupation of Azerbaijani
territories, Mehdiyev wrote.

“Holding the parade filled up a list of evidence of Armenia’s direct
military aggression against Azerbaijan and the establishment of its
actual military and political control over its occupied territories,”
the letter said. “In fact, this parade has shown that Armenia
continues increasing its military presence in these areas and deploys
a large quantity of arms and ammunition beyond international control.
If this is not so, the Armenian leadership must explain how the
demonstrated types of weapons, including unmanned spy lethal vehicles,
which were made in Armenia and were first publicly demonstrated at a
military parade in Armenia on September 21, 2011, appeared in the
Azerbaijani occupied territories.”

“The Republic of Azerbaijan declares the strongest protest against
Armenia’s warlike gesture, and irresponsible rhetoric of its
leadership,” the letter said. “Such provocations as a military parade
in the Azerbaijani occupied territories and the celebration of the
occupying forces and the puppet armed gangs that are responsible for
the heinous crimes committed against the Azerbaijani civilians during
the war, are contrary to Armenia’s obligations on international law,
and within the ongoing process of the conflict settlement.”

All the above-mentioned confirms that the Armenian policy still poses
a serious threat to regional and international peace, security and
stability and requires attention and response from the United Nations
and the international community as a whole, the letter said.

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.

Worcester Telegram , MA
May 27 2012

Despite shooting, taxes, business owner stays, for now

by Aaron Nicodemus ON BUSINESS

Robert `Big Bob’ Varderesian has moved on.

He said he rarely thinks about the 2008 shooting inside his business,
Big Bob’s Liquor Store on Richmond Street.

At around 10 p.m. on Dec. 10, 2008, Evan Louis Rivera, 40, and another
man burst into the small package store. Mr. Rivera allegedly held a
gun and pointed it at the stomach of Mr. Varderesian’s brother, Kevin,
who also works in the family business.

Mr. Varderesian pulled a semi-automatic handgun and shot Mr. Rivera
several times, killing him. Mr. Rivera’s accomplice, who fled the
store, has never been found. Over in a flash, the shooting was
captured on the store’s video camera.

`Life is never the same, because you have to watch out,’ Mr.
Varderesian said. `But I’m over it. It’s behind me. I don’t look back
on it. I don’t worry about it. I’d do it again, if I had to.’

Mr. Varderesian, now 36, is a licensed gun owner who lives in
Worcester. He was never charged in the shooting, which the district
attorney’s office ruled was in self-defense. Mr. Rivera had a long
criminal history, having spent 13 years in a Florida prison on a pair
of armed robbery charges. Police in Auburn and Fitchburg considered
him a suspect in several armed robberies of liquor stores in their
communities.

In the aftermath, people in the city hailed Mr. Varderesian as a hero.
He shrugs about that now, saying what he did was a split-second
decision, made to protect his brother and himself from harm.

Since the shooting, Mr. Varderesian has opened a second store, Big
Bob’s Wine and Spirits on Southbridge Street.

He purchased the liquor license in 2007, before the shooting, but it
took him three years to renovate the building and get his business up
and running.

The Southbridge Street store has been open since September 2010. He
recently purchased the building, at 501 Southbridge St., for $425,000.

`I had always planned to open another store,’ he said, asking,
rhetorically, `Why shouldn’t I?’

But if an observer would guess that starting a new business and then
buying the building signifies Mr. Varderesian has recommitted to
Worcester, think again.

Like many business owners in the city, he was recently notified that
taxes on the property he just purchased will likely be going up. The
assessed value of the property will increase by $44,100, from $251,500
in 2011 to $295,600 in 2012.

`The city hasn’t done anything for us, except raising our taxes and
giving us headaches,’ he said. `It doesn’t seem like they are very
business friendly.’

The assessments of some businesses climbed even higher, doubling and
more in some cases, to values that are far above what those properties
could have fetched on the open market. But seeing as Mr. Varderesian’s
property recently sold at $425,000, it appears the valuation is
probably moving closer to the market price.

The tax bill, though, has forced him to consider selling both his
liquor stores and leaving the state. He has been weighing the pros and
cons of living and working in the city.`I’ve been thinking a lot
lately of doing it somewhere else,’ he said. `I’m thinking about it
more and more often.’

He came to this country as a teenager from Armenia. He settled in
Worcester and nine years ago opened the liquor store on Richmond
Street. He attended high school in Worcester, but never graduated.

`Look, I’m good at what I do, but I’m not book-smart,’ he said.

He said he and his two brothers, Kevin and Vinnie, work 14- to 15-hour
days, seven days a week. Between the two stores, there are three other
employees.

`I work hard for what I’ve got; we all have,’ he said.

While I interviewed him this week, a monitor behind the counter lit
up. It was his fiancée from Armenia, calling him on Skype. He
conducted the rest of the interview half in English, half in Armenian,
as he talked to me and talked to her.

`When I can get her over here, that’s probably when things will
change,’ he said. `Hopefully, she’ll be here soon, we’re just doing
the paperwork.’

As he speaks to me and his fiancée, some Holy Cross baseball players
come to the counter, and Mr. Varderesian engages them in easy banter,
wishing them luck in their next game. Another customer comes in for a
$2 bottle of liquor, saying as he lays down his dollar and four
quarters, `I don’t buy anywhere else.’

Mr. Varderesian has a smile for people as they buy scratch tickets or
a bottle of wine.

I ask him if this country has provided him with better opportunities
than he would have found in his native country.

`Take a look at me, dude,’ he says, sitting back in his chair. `I am
tired all the time. I have made my own opportunities. I work seven
days a week, 15 hours a day, for this opportunity. Nobody hands me
nothing.’

US SENATE COMMITTEE CALLS FOR CONTINUED AID TO NAGORNO-KARABAKH

news.am
May 26, 2012 | 11:27

The Senate Appropriations Committee, in its version of the Fiscal Year
2013 foreign aid bill, called for continued aid to Nagorno-Karabakh,
but failed to include specific dollar figures for aid to Armenia,
effectively signaling support for President Obama’s proposal to cut
economic aid to Armenia by nineteen percent, reported the Armenian
National Committee of America.

Despite overall reductions in foreign aid spending, Senate
Appropriators included language supporting continued assistance to
Nagorno-Karabakh, noting that: “The Committee recommends assistance
for victims of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in amounts consistent
with prior years, and for ongoing needs related to the conflict. The
Committee urges a peaceful resolution of the conflict.” This represents
progress over last year’s Senate Committee report, which limited aid
to only to “humanitarian assistance,” and did not specify that the
amount should be consistent with prior years, Asbarezreports

Similar to last year, the Senate was silent on military aid parity
for Armenia and Azerbaijan, which represents tacit support for the
President’s budget request that equal amounts of Foreign Military
Financing ($2,700,000) and International Military Education and
Training ($600,000) be provided to both Yerevan and Baku.

Earlier this month, the U.S. House Appropriations Committee proposed
sharply increasing aid to Nagorno-Karabakh from $2 to $5 million and
rejected the Obama Administration’s proposed $7.2 million cut in aid
to Armenia, by calling for $40 million in economic aid to Armenia.

The House panel also maintained military aid parity between Armenia
and Azerbaijan, and called upon the Administration to formulate a
strategy for targeted aid to the Armenian-populated Javakhk region
of Georgia. In addition, the panel called on the Secretary of State
to continue support for Armenians and other Christian populations at
risk due to recent unrest in the Middle East.

TROIS MEDAILLES DE BRONZE POUR L’EQUIPE CYCLISTE JUNIOR D’ARMENIE
Krikor Amirzayan

armenews.com
samedi 26 mai 2012

Les jeunes cyclistes d’Armenie ont remporte des medailles lors du
Tournoi junior du Belarus. 128 sportifs prirent part aux competitions
dans 6 epreuves cyclistes. Edouard Matossian a remporte trois
medailles de bronze dont du 25 km et du 15 km. Vahram Darbinian en
” course olympique ” a termine a la 6e place. L’equipe d’Armenie de
cyclisme etat entrainee par Albert Aloyan. Il a affirme que l’equipe
armenienne sera en grande forme lors des championnats d’Europe junior
qui se derouleront du 1er au 6 juin a Anadia au Portugal.

MEL GIBSON APPROCHE POUR ” A L’EST DE BYZANCE ” DE ROGER KUPELIAN
Jean Eckian

armenews.com
samedi 26 mai 2012

Le cineaste americain Roger Kupelian a confirme vendredi avoir eu
plusieurs entretiens avec Mel Gibson et des representants du President
Serge Sarkissian a propos du projet de film retracant l’epopee du
general Mamigonian dont Gibson serait l’incarnation. Un accord serait
sur la bonne voie.

Cette superproduction hollywoodienne se passe au temps mythique du
Roi Tiridate, de Gregoire l’Illuminateur, sous Diocletien, et des
conquetes de Vartan Mamigonian.

Au milieu du cinquième siècle, après la naissance du Christ, durant
les derniers jours de l’Empire romain, sous Valentinien III (Flavius
Placidius Valentinius), un general mène ses hommes au combat contre
la puissante armee persane au nom de la defense du christiannisme
naissant. Une rebellion qui fut la première guerre de liberation
d’une nation (bataille d’Avaraïr, 451) ; celle de l’Armenie.

Nous sommes au carrefour de la foi et de la culture, a la fin d’un
monde jusqu’a celui de la naissance de Byzance. Histoire de trahisons,
de princes, de fugitifs et de guerriers. Une saga qui s’etend sur
200 ans, et dont les batailles epiques seront filmees a la facon d’un
correspondant de guerre.

Sur une base graphique realise par Roger Kupelian, peintre, graphiste
et realisateur, une souscription d’aide a la production a ete lancee
en 2001 qui a permis a Kupelian de pouvoir presenter un ” teaser ”
(bande annonce) en 2008. Le financement de cette ~uvre, a raisonnance
mondiale, est toujours en cours, ainsi que les negociations avec les
Studios d’Hollywood. L’UGAB, par la voix d’Annie Markarian, a indique
que l’organisation ” est particulièrement heureuse d’accompagner ce
film monumental qui devrait seduire les cinephiles du monde entier. “.

En outre, Serj Tankian est confirme pour composer la bande originale.

Les accords avec les producteurs potentiels devraient etre finalises
pour la fin de l’annee.

Roger Kupelian, polyglotte, eleve jusqu’a l’âge de douze ans en Sierra
Leone (Ouest de l’Afrique), a travaille pour plusieurs productions
hollywoodiennes (La Guerre de Charlie Wilson, Le Seigneur des Anneaux,
War, etc). Dernier film en date auquel il a apporte son talent
de graphiste et d’effets speciaux realises aux Fugitive studios :
” Terminator Salvation ” (Terminator la renaissance, 2009).

A l’Est de Byzance (East of Byzantium), veut raconter au monde ce qui
a fonde la nation Armenienne et son epopee. De ce qu’il l’a lui-meme
nourri depuis l’enfance.

Par ailleurs, au peril de sa vie, dans les tranchees, aux côtes des
combattants armeniens et au milieu des villages et des villes du
Nord-Karabagh, Kupelian a filme les dernières heures de luttes pour
la liberte. Un temoignage pour l’histoire.

AZERBAIJAN SENDS A DIPLOMATIC NOTE TO FRANCE

Journal of Turkish Weekly
May 25 2012

Azerbaijan sent a diplomatic note to France as three French senators
entered Upper Karabakh without permission.

A statement by Elman Abdullaev, press secretary of Azerbaijan’s Foreign
Affairs Ministry, said that three French senators who visited Upper
Karabakh under occupation without permission by Azerbaijani officials
were included in the “black list”.

Abdullaev said that Azerbaijani Embassy in France sent a note to
France’s Foreign Ministry.

Such visits did not contribute to a resolution of the problem, but
complicated the process, Abdullaev said.

Friday, 25 May 2012 Source: Anadolu Agency