Author: Kalantarian Kevo

‘REMEMBER’ – ARMENIAN MUSICIAN’S NEW SONG DEDICATED TO GENOCIDE CENTENNIAL

12:45 * 07.10.14

The project is the brainchild of Armenian singer and musician Ara
Gevorgyan who is going to release a new music video in commemoration
of the Genocide centennial.

“I have now written a new song which has been recorded in both Armenian
and English. The Armenian version is entitled ‘We are and We will Be’;
the name for the English variant is ‘Remember’. The English text’s
author is Daniel Decker from the United States. The Armenian text
was written by Levon Blbulyan,” Gevorgyan told Tert.am, introducing
his initiative.

Remembering the song’s prehisitory, the musician said that they
launched the project with the late writer and satirist Aramayis
Sahakyan. “Then we talked to Henrik Anasyan, a wonderful musician
who lives in the United States, but because what he had written
was too much to the point and featured fight and cruel episodes,
we turned to Levon Blbulyan for mitigating all that a little bit,
and I think it turned out a very good text,” he added.

Gevorgyan said they have recorded the song under the guidance of the
State Philharmonic Orchestra’s chief conductor, Eduard Topchyan,
and the director of the Armenian State Academic Choir, Hovhannes
Chekijyan. He thanked the Public Television of Armenia and the National
Cinema Center for the support.

The music video, which is still half-finished, has been shot at the
Genocide Memorial Park. Gevorgyan sayshe hopes that the project will
be really fine after it is complete.

But he said it isn’t their end-goal, as the group’s next step will
be achieving an international reaction. “We have already got an
agreement with Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan for asking the
the diaspora choirs which came to Armenia to sing the song to perform
it in English in their streets on April 24, 2015. The negotiations
are now in progress, and we are seek an international reaction to
have it broadcast by TV companies in different states,” he added.

Armenian News – Tert.am

VANADZOR RALLY: PAP BACKS OPPOSITION PARTIES’ CALL FOR COMPLETE POWER CHANGE

POLITICS | 07.10.14 | 10:34

The Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) led by tycoon Gagik Tsarukyan for
the first time explicitly spoke about the need for a complete change of
power as its members participated in a joint rally with two opposition
parties in the country’s third largest city of Vanadzor Monday evening.

The gathering was part of the non-governing trio’s provincial campaign
drumming up popular support for a big joint public rally in Yerevan
later this week. Ex-president Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s Armenian National
Congress (ANC) and former foreign minister Raffi Hovannisian’s Heritage
are the two other forces taking part in the events.

Addressing supporters in Vanadzor, senior PAP member Naira Zohrabyan
stressed that while the three forces might have some different
opinions on different matters, in one matter they shared a common view:
“The current authorities are taking the country to its demise.

This government has led the country to an impasse and therefore it
must go.”

Like during the previous rallies in Abovyan, Hrazdan, Sisian, Kapan,
Ararat and Ijevan, speakers at the event in Vanadzor leveled harsh
criticism at the government over its socio-economic policies. They
also spoke against the need for constitutional changes in the country
at this moment.

“Our problem is not in a faulty Constitution, our problem is in a
faulty government that thinks about ways of extending its anti-national
policies by another decade by means of constitutional changes,”
Zohrabyan stressed.

Members of the PAP, ANC and Heritage urged people of Vanadzor to
support them also at the October 10 rally in Yerevan.

The trio of parliamentary minority parties will make their last
provincial trip as part of the current campaign to Gyumri on Wednesday.

ZHAMANAK: AIR ARMENIA CANCELS FLIGHTS AMID DEBTS

10:17 * 07.10.14

Air Armenia on Monday had to cancel four flights to St Petersburg
(Russia) and two flights to Moscow and Athens due to emerging financial
difficulties, the paper has learned.

The airline reportedly owes 5 million US Dollars to a company from
which it has purchased two aircrafts without giving the money.

The paper says that the Dubai-based company, which had sold the planes,
had to later take them back, thus causing Air Armenia to revise its
flight schedule.

The airline is now said to have only one aircraft at its disposal.

Citing its sources, the paper says that Head of the Government’s Civil
Aviation Department Artyom Movsisyan on Monday convened a meeting
to address the problem. The discussion was reportedly attended by a
representative of the Dubai company.

Armenian News – Tert.am

EurasiaReview
Oct 3 2014

Two Speeches – OpEd

By Uri Avnery

IF I could choose between the two rhetorical gladiators, I would
rather have Mahmoud Abbas representing Israel and Netanyahu
representing the other side.

Abbas stood almost motionless and read his speech (in Arabic) with
quiet dignity. No gimmicks.

Netanyahu used all the tricks taught in a beginners course in public
speaking. He rotated his head regularly from left to right and back,
stretched out his arms, raised and lowered his voice convincingly. At
one point he produced the required visual surprise. Last time it was a
childish drawing of an imagined Iranian atom bomb, this time it was a
photo of Palestinian children in Gaza playing next to a rocket
launcher.

(Netanyahu was carrying with him a stock of photos to exhibit – ISIS
beheadings and such – rather like a salesman carrying samples.)

Everything a bit too slick, too smooth, too “sincere”. Like the
furniture marketeer he once was.

Both speeches were delivered to the General Assembly of the United
Nations. Abbas spoke two weeks ago, Netanyahu this week. Because of
the Jewish holidays, he came late – rather like the person who arrives
at the party after all the main guests have already left.

The hall was half empty, the sparse audience consisted of junior
diplomats sent to demonstrate the presence of their government. They
were obviously bored stiff.

The applause was provided by the bloated Israeli delegation in the
hall and the Zionist dignitaries and indignitaries packed into the
galleries, led by casino-mogul Sheldon Adelson. (After the speech,
Adelson took Netanyahu to an expensive non-kosher restaurant. The
police cleared the streets on the way. But Adelson publicly criticized
the speech as too moderate.)

Not that it matters. One does not speechify in the General Assembly in
order to convince its members. One speaks there for the home audience.
Netanyahu did, and so did Abbas.

THE SPEECH of Abbas was a contradiction between form and content: a
very moderate speech clad in very extreme language.

It was clearly addressed to the Palestinian people, who are still
boiling with anger over the killing and destruction of the Gaza war.
This led Abbas to use very strong language – so strong as to defeat
its main purpose of promoting peace. He used the word “genocide” – not
once, but three times. That was a bonanza for the Israeli propaganda
machine, and it immediately became known as the “Genocide Speech”.

During the Gaza war, more than 2000 Palestinians were killed, mostly
civilians, many of them children, almost all by bombardment from land,
air and sea. That was brutal, even atrocious, but it was not genocide.
Genocide is a matter of hundreds of thousands, millions, Auschwitz,
the Armenians, Rwanda, Cambodia.

Also, Abbas’ speech was totally one-sided. No mention of Hamas,
rockets, offensive tunnels. The war was solely an Israeli affair: they
started, they killed, they genocided. All good for a leader who needs
to defend himself against the accusation of being too soft. But
spoiling a good case.

The speech itself, shorn of the strong language, was quite moderate,
as moderate as it could be. Its crux was a peace program identical
with the terms Palestinians have proposed from the start of Yasser
Arafat’s peace policy, as well as with the Arab Peace Initiative.

It stuck to the Two State Solution: a State of Palestine with East
Jerusalem as its capital “alongside the State of Israel”, the 1967
borders, an “agreed-upon solution to the plight of the Palestinian
refugees” (meaning: agreed upon with Israel, meaning: essentially no
return). It also mentioned the Arab Peace Initiative. No Palestinian
leader could possibly demand less.

It also demanded a “specific time frame” to prevent the charade of
endless “negotiations”.

For this he was attacked by Netanyahu as the incarnation of all evil,
the partner of Hamas, which is the equivalent of ISIS, which is the
heir of Adolf Hitler, whose latter-day reincarnation is Iran.

I HAVE KNOWN Mahmoud Abbas for 32 years. He was not present at my
first meeting with Yasser Arafat in besieged Beirut, but when I met
Arafat in Tunis, in January 1983, he was there. As chief of the Israel
desk of the PLO headquarters, he was present at all my meetings with
Arafat in Tunis. Since the return of the PLO to Palestine, I have seen
Abbas several times.

He was born in 1935 in Safed, where my late wife Rachel also grew up.
They used to ruminate about their childhood there, trying to work out
if Abbas was ever treated by Rachel’s father, a pediatrician.

There was a striking difference between the personalities of Arafat
and Abbas. Arafat was flamboyant, extrovert and outgoing, Abbas is
withdrawn and introvert. Arafat made decisions with lightning speed,
Abbas is deliberate and cautious. Arafat was warm in human relations,
fond of gestures, always preferring the human touch (literally). Abbas
is cool and impersonal. Arafat inspired love, Abbas inspires respect.

But politically there is almost no difference. Arafat was not as
extreme as he seemed, Abbas is not as moderate as he looks. Their
terms for peace are identical. They are the minimum terms any
Palestinian leader – indeed any Arab leader – could possibly agree to.

There can be months of negotiations about the details – the exact
location of the borders, the exchanges of territories, the symbolic
number of refugees allowed to return, security arrangements, the
release of the prisoners, water and such.

But the basic Palestinian demands are unshakable. Take them or leave them.

Netanyahu says: leave them.

IF YOU leave them, what remains?

The status quo, of course. The classic Zionist attitude: There is no
Palestinian people. There will be no Palestinian state. God, whether
He exists or not, promised us the whole country (including Jordan).

But in today’s world, one cannot say such things openly. One must find
a verbal gimmick to evade the issue.

At the end of the recent Gaza war, Netanyahu promised a “new political
horizon”. Critics were quick to point out that the horizon is
something that recedes as you approach it. Never mind.

So what is the new horizon? Netanyahu and his advisors racked their
brains and came up with the “regional solution”.

The “regional solution” is a new fashion, which started to spread a
few months ago. One of its proponents is Dedi Zuker, one of the
founders of Peace Now and a former Meretz member of the Knesset. As he
explained it in Haaretz: The Israeli-Palestinian peace effort is dead.
We must turn to a different strategy: the “regional solution”. Instead
of dealing with the Palestinians, we must negotiate with the entire
Arab world and make peace with its leaders.

Good morning. Dedi. When my friends and I put forward the Two-State
Solution in early 1949, we advocated the immediate setting up of a
Palestinian state coupled with the creation of a Semitic Union, to
include Israel, Palestine and all Arab states, and perhaps Turkey and
Iran, too. We have repeated this endlessly. When the (then) Saudi
Crown Prince produced the Arab Peace Initiative, we called for its
immediate acceptance.

There is no contradiction at all between an Israeli-Palestinian
solution and an Israeli-pan-Arab solution. They are one and the same.
The Arab League will not make peace without the consent of the
Palestinian leadership, and no Palestinian leadership will make peace
without the backing of the Arab League. (I pointed this out in an
article in Haaretz on the day of Netanyahu’s speech.)

Yet some time ago, this “new” idea sprang up in Israel, an association
was formed, money was spent to propagate it. Well meaning Leftists
joined. Not being born yesterday, I wondered.

Now comes Netanyahu in the General Assembly and proposes exactly the
same. Hallelujah! There is a solution! The “regional” one. No need to
talk with the wicked Palestinians anymore. We can talk with the
“moderate” Arab leaders.

Netanyahu could not be expected to touch on the details. What terms
has he in mind? What solution for Palestine? Great men cannot be
bothered with such details.

The whole thing is, of course, ridiculous. Even now, when several Arab
states are joining the American coalition against ISIS, not one of
them wants to be seen in the company of Israel. The US has asked
Israel discreetly and politely to please keep out of it.

NETANYAHU IS always quick to exploit changing circumstances to promote
his unchanging attitude.

The latest hot issue is ISIS (or the Islamic State, as it prefers to
be called now). The world is appalled by its atrocities. Everyone
condemns it.

So Netanyahu connects all his enemies with ISIS. Abbas, Hamas, Iran –
they are all ISIS.

In logic classes one learns about the Inuit (Eskimo) who comes to town
and for the first time sees glass. He takes it in his mouth and starts
to chew. His logic: Ice is transparent. Glass is transparent. Ice can
be chewed. So glass can also be chewed.

By the same logic: ISIS is Islamist. ISIS strives for a world-wide
Caliphate. Hamas is Islamist. So Hamas wants a world-wide Caliphate.
They all want to dominate the world. Like the “Elders of Zion”.

Netanyahu counts on the fact that most people do not know what he is
talking about. By the same logic, France belongs to ISIS. Fact: the
French revolution chopped off heads. ISIS chops off heads. Some time
ago, the British chopped off the head of their king. All ISIS.

In the real world, there is no similarity at all between Hamas and
ISIS, except their professed adherence to Islam. ISIS disclaims all
national borders, it wants an Islamic world-state. Hamas is fiercely
nationalist. It wants a State of Palestine. Nowadays it even talks
about the borders of 1967.

There cannot be any similarity between ISIS and Iran. They stand on
opposite sides of the historic divide: ISIS is Sunni, Iran is Shiite.
ISIS wants to overthrow Bashar al-Assad, and possibly chop off his
head, too, while Iran is Assad’s main supporter.

ALL THESE facts are well-known to anyone interested in world politics.
They are certainly known to the diplomats in the corridors of the UN.
So why does Netanyahu repeat these misrepresentations (to use a mild
word) from the UN rostrum?

Because he was not speaking to the diplomats. He was speaking to the
most primitive voters in Israel, who are proud to have such a fluent
English-speaking representative to address the world.

And anyway, who cares what the Goyim think?

Uri Avnery

Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and peace activist with Gush Shalom.
Avnery sat in the Knesset from 1965-74 and 1979-81 and was the owner
of HaOlam HaZeh, an Israeli news magazine, from 1950 until it closed
in 1993. He is famous for crossing the lines during the Battle of
Beirut to meet Yassir Arafat on 3 July 1982, the first time the
Palestinian leader ever met with an Israeli. Avnery is the author of
several books about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including 1948:
A Soldier’s Tale, the Bloody Road to Jerusalem (2008); Israel’s
Vicious Circle (2008); and My Friend, the Enemy (1986).

How will the EaEU member Armenia cooperate with the EU?

October 4 2014

In the conversation with `Aravot’, answering the question of why,
however, the political section of the Armenian-EU Association
Agreement was not signed, the 1991-92 Slovak foreign minister, now
Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund’s Bratislava office,
Pavol DemeÅ¡, gave evasive answers. – You know, the EU cooperation
differently with the six Eastern Partnership countries. The EU does
not consider the Eastern Partnership countries as a single unit.

Cooperation with these countries is individual. EU Association
Agreement was initialed with Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, as these
three countries, unlike Armenia, did not announce about their
willingness to affiliate to the Eurasian Union. At the same time,
there was not word with Belarus and Azerbaijan about the Association.

This means that Armenia is a sovereign state, with which the European
Union is developing its relations in a way that it thinks would be
beneficial to both the EU and Armenia. – On October 10, it is expected
that Armenia will be signing the Eurasian Economic Union Treaty. At
the same time, both Armenian and European officials announce about
shifting the relations with the EU to a new legal dimensions. It seems
Armenia has no clue of how it should be done. Do you see any option,
which will enable the EaEU member Armenia to develop the relations
with EU? – It was a new situation, and frankly speaking, the European
Union was not ready for it. It would never occur to the EU that
Armenia might not be one of the Eastern Partnership countries that
will not sign the Association Agreement. Especially, when Armenia made
quite a lot of steps for the EU Association, it implemented pretty
positive reforms. The fact that the Government of Armenia decided to
join the Eurasian Union, immediately changed the political situation,
including also opening of a new window to develop relations with EU.

EU cannot reject the hand of cooperation and turn away its face. But,
naturally, it can no longer be based on previous arrangements. I
think, Europe needs time to see how Armenia will develop after
affiliation to EaEU, what effect the EaEU membership will have on
Armenia’s political and economic systems, how the population will
react to all of this, how will Armenia develop in-between the two
geopolitical realities, Russia, which has its own ambitions, and the
European Union, which prior to Eastern Partnership plans, expressed
willingness to assist in Armenia’s transformation. As to how the
Armenia-EU future relations would be characterized, by and large,
depends on Armenia and the geopolitical developments. We cannot turn a
blind eye to the reality that Russia is demonstrating a completely new
approach to post-Soviet countries. It was a big surprise for the
European Union, especially when after the Vilnius summit, Russia along
with political, economic and cultural influence applied also weapons.

What is currently going on in Ukraine was a shock for many. Now, the
EU’s main task, I think, is to mitigate the situation in Ukraine and
regulation of relations with Russia, as the EU ` Russia relations,
nowadays, remind of a competition. Armenia is located in quite
sophisticated and interesting geographical and geopolitical crossroad.

Not only the RU-Russia relations, but also the developments in the
Middle East, the relations with Turkey, closed borders and so on are
competition for Armenia. Quite a sophisticated situation is created in
Armenia for the leaders, political leaders, civil society and the
public, in general, in the sense that a clarification should be made
on one issue: who you are and what you want. Armenia and Armenians
have one more peculiarity. It is the Diaspora. You have a great number
of influential figures abroad. A new situation is also created for
them: how they can be useful under the present situation and promote
the development of Armenia.

Interviewed by Nelly GRIGORYAN
Read more at:

Russian expert: Besides OSCE MG, there are other means to restrain
parties to Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

by David Stepanyan
ARMINFO
Saturday, October 4, 13:18

Besides the OSCE Minsk Group, there are other means to restrain the
parties to the Nagorno- Karabakh conflict and to preserve the status
quo in Nagorno-Karabakh, well-known Russian expert Sergey Markedonov
said in an interview to ArmInfo.

“Russia has never questioned the need to preserve the Minsk Group and
the Madrid principles and to cooperate with the United States and
France on the matter. But, on the other hand, they in the Kremlin
cannot neglect the West’s attempts to minimize Russia’s role in the
post-Soviet area. And President Putin’s initiative to organize a
meeting of the Armenian and Azeri presidents in Sochi was exactly a
response to this process,” Markedonov said.

He said that Russia is currently using different mechanisms to
preserve the status quo in Nagorno-Karabakh: on the one hand, it is
actively developing its cooperation with Azerbaijan in the Caspian
Sea, on the other, it is involving Armenia in its integration
projects.

“This status quo does not oblige Russia to choose between Armenia and
Azerbaijan. Russia’s attempts to keep Azerbaijan from becoming second
Georgia do not mean that it is neglecting its strategic partnership
with Armenia. The factor of this partnership is strong enough to sober
the forces seeking to change the status quo. Russia is ready to accept
any solution except war. And Armenia’s involvement in the Eurasian
project will be just one more proof that Russia is consistent in this
policy,” Markedonov said.

NEW DEVELOPMENTS EMERGE OVER DINK CASE

11:13 * 04.10.14

New developments have emerged in the trial over the case of Hrant Dink,
the assassinated editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos.

According to the Turkish website My Net, a former chief of the police
investigative service, Ramazan Skurek, was summoned to the Prosecutor’s
Office over the case.

After an interrogation that lasted about four hours he reportedly
left the building.

Earlier, a former police official, Sabri Uzun, had been summoned
for interrogation.

Dink was gunned down on January 19, 2007 outside his editorial office
in Istanbul.

His case now is under the proceeding of Yusuf Dogan, the head of the
Istanbul Prosecutor General Office’s Department for Terrorism and
Organized Crime.

Armenian News – Tert.am

HRAPARAK: SEVAN MAYOR’S SON LOSES $300,000 IN CASINO

12:24 04/10/2014 >> DAILY PRESS

The son of Sevan Mayor lost a large sum of money in a casino – about
$300,000, putting his father in a difficult position, Hraparak writes.

According to the newspaper, the Mayor put up for sale his taxi
service. Residents of Sevan city were outraged by this news because
the Mayor constantly forced them to invest in the city’s foundation
to address the community’s needs.

The Mayor refuted the information when contacted for comment.

Source: Panorama.am

SAMAD SEYIDOV: IF ARMENIA REFUSES TO WORK WITH A NEW RAPPORTEUR, NECESSARY STEPS CAN BE TAKEN AGAINST THIS COUNTRY’S DELEGATION

APA, Azerbaijan
Oct 3 2014

[ 03 October 2014 14:29 ]

Strasbourg. Fuad Gulubeyli – APA. PACE Bureau held a meeting on the
last working day of the autumn session.

Future activities of newly-appointed rapporteur on Nagorno Karabakh
were discussed at the meeting. Head of the Azerbaijani delegation
to PACE Samad Seyidov said many of the Bureau members expressed
dissatisfaction with the behavior of the Armenian delegation to PACE
at the session, APA’s Europe bureau reports.

“It was stated that the Armenian delegation’s acts totally run contrary
to the rules of the Council of Europe. They rejected cooperating with
a new rapporteur unanimously elected by the PACE.

PACE Bureau decided to keep in touch with the Armenian delegation and
inform them that such issues stand against the rules of the Assembly.

If the Armenian side insists on its position, the PACE has the right
to take the necessary steps against the delegation,” he said.

In his response to the question about Robert Walter’s forthcoming
report and visit to the region, Seyidov said this issue could be
discussed at the next meeting of the PACE Committee on Political
Affairs.

“This issue will be included in the agenda of the Committee on
Political Affairs and Robert Walter’s visit, working principles and
relations will be discussed at the upcoming meeting. The issue of
Armenia’s collaboration with the rapporteur will be raised once again.

If Armenia again says “no” to this issue, this will mean a direct
challenge to the Council of Europe. In this case, the organization
will have to take relevant steps, which we are going to discuss. In
any case, this issue will be raised again at the upcoming session in
January,” he said.

PRESIDENT ILHAM ALIYEV RECEIVED CHAIRPERSON OF THE FEDERATION COUNCIL OF THE FEDERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION VALENTINA MATVIYENKO

The Azerbaijan State Telegraph Agency
Oct 3 2014

Baku, October 2 (AzerTAc). President of the Republic of Azerbaijan
Ilham Aliyev has received Chairperson of the Federation Council of
the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Valentina Matviyenko.

President Ilham Aliyev congratulated Valentina Matviyenko on her
re-election as Chairperson of the Federation Council of the Federal
Assembly of Russia. The head of state described the participation
of a delegation of the Russian Federation led by the Chairperson
of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly in the 4th Baku
International Humanitarian Forum as a great importance given to this
event. President Ilham Aliyev asked Valentina Matviyenko to convey
his gratitude to President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin
for his congratulations on the occasion of the Forum. The Azerbaijani
President noted that very positive and dynamic development of relations
between the two countries, the scope of cooperation in all areas,
the growth of trade in the economic sphere were highlighted during
a recent meeting with the President of Russia in Astrakhan. The head
of state stressed the importance of interparliamentary ties in terms
of the further development of bilateral relationship.

Chairperson of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of
the Russian Federation Valentina Matviyenko conveyed greetings and
best wishes on behalf of President Vladimir Putin to the head of
state. She thanked President Ilham Aliyev for the invitation to the
4th Baku International Humanitarian Forum. Valentina Matviyenko hailed
the head of state`s speech at the Forum. She said the development of
Baku had made a deep impression on members of the delegation.

During the meeting, the parties exchanged views on the
Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The head of state expressed his gratitude for the greetings of Vladimir
Putin and asked Valentina Matviyenko to communicate his greetings to
the President of Russia.