Author: Kalantarian Kevo

AMAA Program Provides Hats and Blankets for Newborns in Armenia

Monday, January 5th, 2015

Nancy Burdman and Betty Cherkezian with hand-knit blankets and hats
for newborn babies

PARAMUS, N.J.–Late in 2013, Betty Cherkezian and Nancy Burdman of New
Jersey, came up with the idea of “Stitched with Love,” a program to
provide newborn children in Armenia with much needed hats and
blankets. The Armenian Missionary Association of America (AMAA) liked
the idea and adopted the program as part of its relief efforts in
Armenia.

Over 40,000 babies are born in Armenia each year, yet few Armenian
hospitals distribute hats and blankets to newborns and none are
distributed in small towns and villages.

Recognizing this need, “Stitched with Love” strives to provide knitted
or crocheted hats and baby blankets to newborns in maternity hospitals
throughout Armenia. To achieve this goal, “Stitched with Love” has
reached out to Armenian communities in the United States and has
received growing support from donors and knitters who wish to
participate in this cause.

Patterns and designs are also welcome. Blankets should be a minimum of
30 inches by 30 inches in size. Newborn hats should be between 9
inches to 14 inches in diameter. If needed, a basic pattern is
provided on the AMAA website. It is required that only acrylic worsted
weight yarn is used.

The support provided from individuals, community organizations and
church groups has been very encouraging and is making a real
contribution to the infants in Armenia. A lady from North Carolina who
recently participated in this Program writes: “My maternal grandmother
was the sole survivor in her family of the Genocide. It is through her
and my mother that I was passed the talent of sewing and handwork. I
am grateful to God and to them for this gift and try to use that gift
in service to others. Thanks for your work in making this dream of
helping Armenian babies and children a reality.”

Expectant teacher-mothers at AMAA’s Khoren and Shooshanig Avedisian
School and Community Center in Yerevan

During this Christmas and New Year season, with the cooperation of the
Head of the Malatya-Sebastya Administrative District of Yerevan, a
special event was organized at AMAA’s Khoren and Shooshanig Avedisian
School and Community Center for all expectant teacher-mothers of the
neighborhood. The expectant teacher-mothers were welcomed in the
school hall by the school principal Melanya Geghamyan, AMAA Armenian
representative Harout Nersessian and the head of the Education
Department of Malatia-Sebastia district. During the gathering special
film was presented devoted to maternity. It was a joyous occasion at
which time each expectant teacher-mother received hats, blankets and
other clothing “Stitched with Love” for their soon to be born babies,
as well as 2015 calendars, greeting cards and booklets about AMAA. The
event was highlighted in the Malatya-Sebastya local press.

“It is the hope of the ladies of ‘Stitched with Love’ program, that
there will come a time, when all the newborn babies in Armenia will go
home with their mothers, swaddled in a blanket and hat made by caring
individuals like you,” a statement from the AMAA reads.

For more information on how to participate and help in this effort,
contact the AMAA office at 201-265-2607, or visit amaa.org and click
on the “Stitched with Love” tab. Donations to cover the cost of yarn,
transportation and freight can be mailed to the AMAA at 31 West
Century Road, Paramus, NJ 07652. To make a donation by credit card,
you may call the AMAA office or visit AMAA’s website.

TURQUIE
Une université turque ne parvient pas à trouver des professeurs pour
le département de langue arménienne

Seize étudiants du département de la langue et la littérature
arménienne de l’Université de Trakya à Edirne ont appris qu’ils
devront terminer le semestre sans avoir terminé leurs cours en langue
arménienne car l’université n’a pas réussi à fournir des enseignants
pour les cours.

L’université n’a pas réussi à conclure un nouvel accord avec les
enseignants contractuels dans le département, qui a été ouvert en
2011, avant le début du semestre, laissant les étudiants dans
l’embarras concernant les cours qu’ils sont censés prendre selon les
médias turcs. Bien que les étudiants se trouvent sans enseignants,
l’administration de l’université n’a pas encore offert de solution de
rechange. Les étudiants ont choisi de prendre des cours optionnels de
langue russe à la place. S’adressant au journal turc « Zaman » Ahmet
Duman est plaint que les élèves aient souffert d’un manque de
professeurs pour leurs cours de langue arménienne depuis le début du
semestre et qu’ils aient des conférenciers qui ont quitté
l’université, ajoutant : « Nous sommes devenus victimes de cette
situation. Nous ne pouvons pas passer les examens de mi-parcours et
les examens finaux ».

Un autre étudiant Rıdvan SeyitoÄ?ulları, a également demandé que
l’administration de l’université trouve une solution au problème
ajoutant : « Ils se sont engagés à nous envoyer dans différents
départements Mais cela n’est pas encore arrivé. Aucun conférence, pas
de conférenciers.. ».

Le Doyen de la Faculté Recep Duymaz a souligné Ã Zaman que les
enseignants arméniens avaient choisi de ne pas prolonger leurs
contrats et a déclaré que l’université poursuit ses efforts pour
trouver de nouveaux enseignants arméniens pour le département.

mardi 6 janvier 2015,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Jan 6 2015

200 drivers saved on Georgian-Armenian highway

6 January 2015 – 5:08pm

The Georgian police and emergency services saved about 200 people
stuck in cars on a highway connecting Georgia and Armenia in the
Ninotsminda District, TASS reports.

The snow layer reached a height of 80cm in some areas. Traffic was
halted on one of the sections of the Georgian Military Road near
Kazbek. The snow layer on some parts of the road varies from 70-90cm
to 120cm.

Focus, Bulgaria
Jan 6 2015

State Department concerned over incidents on Armenian-Azerbaijani border

6 January 2015 | 02:56 | FOCUS News Agency
Picture: AFP

Washington. The United States is concerned over armed incidents on the
Azerbaijani-Armenian border and urges both parties to prevent clashes,
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, quoted by Itar Tass.

“We are concerned about the violence in Nagorno-Karabakh,” Psaki said.

Washington “calls on both parties to participate in negotiations that
will lead to peace in the region”, she said.

Turkey to Lebanon walk to remember Armenian Genocide

15:10, 06 Jan 2015

Vartan Melkonian is one of the conductors of Britain’s Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra. A century ago, his ancestors lived in Mus,
eastern Turkey, until the day Ottoman rulers made a decision to
“deport” Armenians.

Melkonian and his daughter Veronica will be in Turkey in February for
their “Walking for Armenia” project — a 1,000-kilometer (621-mile)
march they plan to start in Van, eastern Turkey, and complete at the
Birds’ Nest Orphanage in the Lebanese capital, Beirut. The Syrian
stretch of the route poses a serious risk for the Melkonians, but they
are determined to walk it despite the threat of war and the Islamic
State (IS), Al-Monitor reports.

In an interview with Radikal Vartan Melkonian speaks about the march
he and his daughter will make from Turkey to Lebanon to commemorate
ancestors who perished in the Armenian genocide.

Radikal: How did you come up with the “Walking for Armenia” project?
Was it your or your daughter’s idea?

Melkonian: It was my daughter’s idea. She suggested we walk the same
distance in the footsteps of our ancestors to commemorate the 100th
anniversary of the Armenian genocide. Just as our ancestors did.

Radikal: Don’t you have security concerns? Don’t you feel any anxiety
over the assassination of Agos editor-in-chief Hrant Dink in Istanbul
in 2007 and the 2008 murder of [Italian activist] Pippa Bacca who had
come to Turkey with her “Peace Bride” project?

Melkonian: I’m aware of the murders of both Hrant Dink and Pippa
Bacca. Those are very sad incidents. But when my daughter first
proposed this idea a year ago, she had no security concern. Being a
university student, she is aware she is leaving a safe life behind in
Britain for this project.

Radikal: But the danger today is not limited to Turkey. The war in
Syria is going on and there is the threat of IS.

Melkonian: The circumstances were different when she first came up
with the project. Naturally, the reports of people being kidnapped,
beheaded and raped are not part of her daily life. Today the region
has become polarized.

Radikal: Are you going to stick to this route in February?

Melkonian: That’s our plan.

Radikal: According to your road map, you will enter Syria from
Kobani. Are you going to change your plan in line with the latest
situation?

Melkonian: When we started the project IS was not there. We are not
planning to change our route at this stage.

Radikal: What reactions do you think a project evoking the genocide
on its 100th anniversary will generate in Turkey?

Melkonian: I think that all peoples, everybody, should be prepared
for such projects. This project will be a modest and graceful way to
remember our loved ones. My daughter and I will be only remembering
our ancestors.

Radikal: What are the initial reactions? Have people contacted you
through your website?

Melkonian: All in all this is an individual effort. Our sole purpose
is to commemorate family members who died 100 years ago without
leaving a trace. We have been flooded with messages of support from
all over the world. And we are grateful to all of them.

Radikal: The Catholicos of Cilicia, Aram I, also lent support to your project.

Melkonian: Yes, he did. But he is worried about the security
conditions of our march. Still, he conveyed a message to the world in
the letter he wrote us. We have posted it on our website,
He says in his message that our project is
an important initiative that will remind the world that the genocide
perpetrated against the Armenians by the Ottoman-Turkish government
must never ever happen again.

Radikal: Are you going to make any statements or convey any messages
during the march?

Melkonian: I won’t have any political, religious or philosophical
messages to convey. I will be only walking with questions still
burning inside me. What happened to my ancestors 100 years ago? Why
did my parents lose their family at a very early age and live in an
orphanage away from their homeland, away from home?

Radikal: Why did you choose Van as the starting point for the march?
Why not Erzurum, Harput or Diyarbakir, which is closer to the border?
Where were you ancestors from?

Melkonian: We chose Van for practical reasons. My family members were
not born in Van. They were born in Mus, the hometown of Vartan
Mamigonian, an important historical figure for Armenians. Anyway, our
purpose is to trace the route of 100 years ago.

Radikal: What stories are left for you from 1915?

Melkonian: I know nothing about my grandmothers and grandfathers,
neither their names nor their ages in 1915, nothing. … I’ve listened
to very few memories from my father about his parents. He remembered
large gardens and houses. He was only 6 at the time, though he was the
family’s eldest child. His only memory of his parents was the last
time he saw them, surrounded by soldiers.

Radikal: Your route ends at the Birds’ Nest orphanage in Beirut where
you grew up.

Melkonian: My parents got married in a refugee camp in Beirut. My
mother died when I was 4. That’s why I was sent to the Birds’ Nest
orphanage [run by] Danish missionaries. One of the people in the
orphanage, Maria Jacobsen, had witnessed the aftermath of the
massacres in 1915. That’s the reason why we’ll end the march at the
orphanage, my home, the only home I’ve known.

Radikal: What does Turkey and Eastern Anatolia mean to you today?

Melkonian: For me, Eastern Anatolia is a mournful land. I am moved at
any mention of it. After all, Mus, a part of Greater Armenia, was the
homeland of my ancestors.

Radikal: Lastly, what is your message to Turkey and its people?

Melkonian: Just as the good things your family could have done in the
past doesn’t make you a good person, the bad things they could have
done doesn’t make you a bad one. But the denial of historic facts is
something to have a negative impact on you and torment your soul.

ARMENIE
Hovik Abrahamian demande de la patience

Hovik Abrahamian, le Premier ministre, a exhorté les Arméniens à
donner à son gouvernement plus de temps pour résoudre les problèmes
socio-économiques que connaît le pays, en admettant qu’ils n’ont pas
été atténués en 2014. >.

> a-t-il ajouté.

La croissance économique en Arménie en 2014 pourrait bien avoir été à
la hauteur de l’objectif de 4 pour cent fixé par les autorités malgré
les effets d’une récession en cours en Russie. L’économie russe
devrait se contracter l’année prochaine en raison de la baisse du prix
du pétrole et des sanctions imposées par l’Occident. Néanmoins, le
ministre de l’Economie Karen Chshmaritian a déclaré le 4 Décembre que
le gouvernement continue de se démarquer par sa prévision que
l’économie arménienne devrait croître de 4 pour cent en 2015.

Le Fonds monétaire international (FMI) prévoit un taux de croissance
plus faible de l’ordre de 3,3 pour cent.

mardi 6 janvier 2015,
Stéphane (c)armenews.com

Gunfire ‘daily reality’ in Azerbaijan and Armenia conflict zone

6/1/15

Azerbaijan and Armenia are closer to all-out conflict than at any time
in the last 20 years.

The two countries are disputing ownership of the Armenian-controlled
Nagorno-Karabakh region, which Azerbaijan is asking to be returned.

Cross border skirmishes have killed troops on both sides, with the
shooting down of an Armenian helicopter in November reigniting
tensions.

Rayhan Demytrie reports.

La Cancillería de Uruguay pide por la autodeterminación y el
reconocimiento de la República de Nagorno Karabaj

5.1.15

La Cancillería de Uruguay pidió por la autodeterminación del pueblo y
el reconocimiento de la República de Nagorno Karabaj el domingo 4 de
enero, luego de una reunión con representantes armenios.

El Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores de Uruguay, Luis Almagro, se
reunió con los integrantes del Consejo Causa Armenia del Uruguay junto
al miembro del Consejo Nacional Armenio Mundial,Mario Nalpatian, para
hablar sobre la situación en el Cáucaso Sur y las constantes
violaciones al cese del fuego en Nagorno Karabagh por parte de
Azerbaiyán, lo que ameritó una fuerte condena por parte del ministro.

En una declaración posterior, la Cancillería uruguaya reafirmó “la
necesidad de unasolución pacífica sobre Nagorno Karabagh que tenga
especialmente en cuenta el derecho a la autodeterminación del pueblo
armenio y el principio de integridad territorial de la República de
Armenia conforme a sus fronteras como país independiente entre mayo de
1918 y diciembre de 1920”.

Además, en su declaración, el canciller Luis Almagro envió un saludo
con motivo de la Navidad armenia “a los pueblos armenios de la
Republica de Armenia y de la República de Nagorno Karabaj, esperando
que la misma encuentre pronto su reconocimiento en el concierto
internacional de las naciones”.

Russia to hire more foreign troops in forces shake-up

By Laurence PeterBBC News
5 January 2015

Russia is opening up its armed forces to foreign career soldiers,
though Russian experts say the move is not linked to the conflict in
Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin issued a decree enabling foreigners to serve
for at least five years in the Russian military – provided they speak
Russian.

More recruits from ex-Soviet Central Asian republics are expected.

Foreign volunteers, including Russians, have been fighting in Ukraine.
Russia denies sending regular troops there.

The Ukrainian government and the West say Russia has sent heavy
weapons and well-trained troops to help the separatists in eastern
Ukraine.

Mr Putin’s decree on foreign soldiers is part of moves to
professionalise the Russian armed forces, BBC defence analyst Jonathan
Marcus says. But it does have diplomatic implications for Russia’s
relations with ex-Soviet republics, he adds.

Russian military experts Pavel Felgenhauer and Alexander Golts both
told the BBC that the new decree would legalise a situation that had
already existed for several years in areas where Russian troops were
deployed beyond Russia’s borders.

It would make it easier for Russian forces to recruit locals in parts
of Central Asia, the Caucasus and in Trans-Dniester, the pro-Russian
breakaway territory in Moldova, they said.

Central Asia strategy

“Previously they were required to get Russian citizenship, or a paper
granting them Russian citizenship rights, but now they can serve
legally without Russian citizenship,” Mr Felgenhauer said.

According to Mr Golts, there are already about 300 foreigners in the
Russian forces.

Mr Felgenhauer noted that thousands of Tajiks had served under Russian
officers during unrest in Tajikistan in the 1990s.

In the Caucasus, Russia still operates a military base in Armenia and
has troops in two breakaway parts of Georgia – Abkhazia and South
Ossetia.

“Sending Russian contract soldiers to Central Asia is expensive and
many stay there. So taking locals is very practical,” Mr Felgenhauer
said.

“The possible threats are growing in Central Asia as Nato winds down
in Afghanistan. So there will be a possible expansion of Russia’s
military presence in Central Asia – Russian officers with local
soldiers. But that does not mean mass recruitment of foreigners.”

Mr Golts said Russia was not talking about creating a French-style
“foreign legion”. France has long used elite foreign troops to quell
unrest in its former colonies in Africa, and in other hotspots.

For some the typical monthly wage of 30,000 roubles (£329; $500) would
be an incentive to join the Russian army, in tough economic times, as
would the prospect of getting Russian citizenship, Mr Golts added.

Situation at the line of contact remains tense

15:15, 05 Jan 2015

The situation at the line of contact between the armed forces of
Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan remains tense; the rival continues to
intensively violate the ceasefire regime all along the frontline.

About 350 cases of ceasefire violation by the Azerbaijani side were
registered the night of January 5. The rival fired more than 4,500
shots from weapons of different caliber in the direction of the
Armenian positions.

The front troops of the NKR Defense Army keep control of the
operational-tactical situation at the frontline and resort to response
actions only in case of extreme necessity.