Author: Kalantarian Kevo

Armenian President urges Republicans to more actively use their
international contacts in the fight with the enemy

by Tatevik Shahunyan

ARMINFO
Saturday, September 6, 20:01

President of Armenia, the leader of the Republican Party of Armenia
(RPA) Serzh Sargsyan urged on Saturday the Republicans to more
actively use their international contacts in the fight with the enemy.

He said that official contacts are important but any informal contacts
will also do for making the truth known to the world community.

“Our enemy is getting increasingly active, so, we cannot stay passive
here. We are dealing with a country that does not shun telling lies, a
country that persecutes its own citizens as Armenian spies though
perfectly aware that this is not true. Everybody knows how many Azeris
were killed during their last raids but they still keep telling the
world that they have taught a good lesson to the Armenians. Everybody
knows that our chess team are three-time Olympic champions but the
Azeri President still claims that their chess players are better even
though they are just European champions. We must make the truth known
to the world, especially now that Azerbaijan is trying to move the
Nagorno-Karabakh issue from the OSCE Minsk Group into another formats.
We must not allow this to happen as we have achieved significant
results in this format,” Sargsyan said.

Preparations underway for Pope Francis’s visit to Armenia

Monday, September 8, 13:42

Roman Pope Francis will visit Turkey in late November, Italian mass
media say referring to diplomatic sources.

Pope Francis will visit also Armenia from Turkey. Negotiations are
currently underway for the visit preparations. The Pope will be on
the visit to Turkey for two days on Nov 29 in Ankara and on 30 Nov in
Istanbul.

According to Italian sources, the visit looks to will draw attention
to the dialogue with the Islamic works and the dramatic situation in
the Middle East. The Pope will come out in protection of the
Christians that have been subjected to violence by the radical Islamic
forces in Iraq, Syria and other countries.

Director’s Desk: A Ranger’s Eyes

On July 23, 2014 · By: CNF Staff
(c) WWF-Armenia/A.Malkhasyan

Because Armenia’s Khosrov Forest is only an hour or so from Yerevan, I
have been there at least a dozen times over the last six years, and
last month I drove out there again, this time mainly for the
celebration of WWF’s 10 years in the country.

Khosrov, which has been receiving CNF support since 2010, is the
northernmost leopard habitat in Armenia. The forest also safeguards
the habitat of other endangered prey species, perhaps the most
important of these being the bezoar goat: a magnificently bearded
mountain goat that can run at speeds of 40 kilometers per hour up
steep, rocky mountain cliffs. Though it is all but extinct in Georgia,
a small and-thanks to the work of CNF and its partner
organizations–slowly growing population survives in Armenia and
Azerbaijan.

The males in particular are also very elusive creatures, summering
high in the mountains away from the females, and in all my visits to
the region I have never seen one in the wild. So when a small group of
us sets off on this lovely June evening with Hrachya Danielyan, one of
Khosrov’s most experienced rangers, I joke that I may jinx the outing.
For close to an hour, we climb in our jeep over very rough terrain to
a first observation point, but after just a few minutes of scanning
the hillside and nearby cliffs with his binoculars, Hrachya turns and
tells us there is nothing other than the glorious view for us to
behold.

Undeterred, he leads us to even higher terrain and a second stop.
Again we scan the hillside, this time across a much deeper valley. I
am on the point of saying: “Jinxed again,” when Hrachya turns and,
shushing us with a finger on his lips, beckons us to approach his
position. There across the gorge on an outcropping of rock, a mature
male bezoar peacefully grazes. Though we too can now make out his
large form with the naked eye, binoculars highlight his markings and
majesty. From the enormous horns, Hrachya estimates his age at 10-12.
By the evening’s end, we have spotted two more subjects in their
solitary meanderings.

The desk work of building up a conservation trust fund for the
Caucasus is occasionally rewarded with moments like this–and finally
witnessing these animals in the wild was of course a great treat. But
for me, watching the trained, professional eyes of a ranger at work
was just as gratifying. Without them, we would have stayed much longer
at the first observation point and never spotted the goats at the
second. I will be forever grateful to Hrachya for his knowledge of and
ability to see Khosrov’s secrets, and for his showing them to me.

David Morrison is Executive Director of the Caucasus Nature Fund

Armenia to host 120 scientists within the framework of International
Seismological School

09:41, 8 September, 2014

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS: The 9th International Seismological
School will be conducted September 8-11 in Armenia on the theme of
“Modern methods of processing and interpretation of seismic data”.

The Information Department of the Emergency Situations Ministry of
Armenia told Armenpress that about 120 scientists arrived from 10
countries of the world will participate in the event.

The International Seismological School will be conducted in Kotayq
province of Armenia. The organizers are the National Seismic
Protection Service Agency of the RA Ministry of Emergency Situations,
the Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences and US
Michigan State University.

Politicians do not pay attention to Tigranakert (video)

13:30 | September 8,2014 | Politics

Political circles in Armenia do not pay attention to Tigranakert and I
would call their indifference in one word – apathy, Doctor of
Historical Sciences Hamlet Petrosyan said on Monday.

“No one in Armenia has taken any measure for Tigranakert, not a single
party has held a protest for Tigranakert, whereas Azerbaijan is
continually protesting and complaining and banning visitors from
visiting Azerbaijan. They are sending letters of complaint to the
organizations that participate in our excavations,” the head of a
group that is holding archeological excavations in Tigranakert told
reporters.

Of the 70 hectare of the land, the group has excavated 2 hectares, the
most important parts of the area.

Thanks to the excavations, the monument has become a spectacular sight
that attracts more tourists. About 30000-40000 people visit
Tigranakert annually. Most of them arrive from foreign countries.

One of the main goals of the excavation is to make Tigranakert known
to the world.

Armenian conscript reported killed in military unit

11:42 * 08.09.14

A conscript serving in one of Armenia’s military units was found
killed of a fatal gunshot overnight.

According to a press release by the Ministry of Defense, the soldier
is Samvel S Harutyunyan, 22. He was on a military vigil at the unit’s
garage on the day of the tragic incident. The firearm injury was found
on the serviceman’s jaw.

Harutyunyan was drafted to the military in 2014.

A probe is now under way.

Dovlatov Street Nameplate to be Unveiled in New York on September 7

Forest Hills neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens, where
lived Sergei Dovlatov

(c) Flickr/ Dennis
11:34 07/09/2014

NEW YORK, September 7 (RIA Novosti) – A New York street is to be named
after a famous Soviet dissident writer Sergei Dovlatov on September 7, the
widow has told RIA Novosti the fact brings both joy and sadness.

Elena Dovlatova has noted that she feels joy “from the fact that this was
made possible by those who loved his books, that is, the readers, for whom
the author writes his works.”

“All this makes me proud that I was lucky to be a part of his life,” she
said. At the same time, the writer’s widow acknowledged that she is still
saddened “by the fact that he didn’t live long enough to see it for
himself, [that he] could not imagine how he would be appreciated.”

Sergei and Elena’s relationship lasted 27 years and was not always easy, as
the widow herself said. Still, replying to a question whether she regretted
anything, Elena said: “It is these last few years that made me believe I
have nothing to regret about.”

On July 9, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signed the act of naming 63
streets of the city in honor of some remarkable men, among them Sergei
Dovlatov as well. This was made possible due to the grass-roots campaign on
Change.org, whose organizers “appealed that they wanted “to commemorate
Dovlatov’s legacy, to show appreciation for his talent, and to express the
enormous gratitude from his readers.”

Dovlatov was born on September 3, 1941 in Russia to Jewish and Armenian
parents, grew up in St. Petersburg, and worked in a variety of Russian and
Estonian newspapers. He was friends with famous dissident poets and
writers, including Joseph Brodsky, Evgeni Rein and Alexander Ney.

Dovlatov was expelled from the Union of Soviet Journalists for publishing
unauthorized literature. He soon immigrated to New York City, where he
wrote novels and short stories that were translated into English. In the
mid-1980s, The New Yorker magazine published Dovlatov’s work, which
resulted in him gaining notoriety and respect among English-speaking
readers.

His most famous books include non-fiction novels “The Zone”, “The Suitcase”
and “Sanctuary.”

Sergei Dovlatov is the first Russian writer to be honored with a street
named after him in New York City.

Baku commands are implemented in the PACE with a military discipline

September 6 2014

“The estimates are preliminary. In fact, it is not an estimate rather
than listing of the situation, news and their impressions. Much
importance is given to the upcoming events, including the stance of
the political forces to the constitutional reforms. The main tasks are
also the issues related to judicial and justice systems reforms,
transparency in police activities and the underway operations thereof.
The positive thing is that, despite Armenia is in war now, it has
passed the law on alternative service, which is in force and does not
cause any serious comments and objections for the other parties”, said
the leader of ARF faction, Armen Rustamyan, in the conversation with
Aravot.am, referring to discussions held in the PACE Monitoring
Committee. Note that on September 3, at the PACE Monitoring Committee
closed-door session, the co-rapporteurs on Armenia, Axel Fischer and
Alan Mill, presented the results of their visit to Armenia on June
16-18. The Monitoring Committee closed-door session was attended by
the Head of the Armenian delegation to PACE, Hermine Naghdalyan, and a
delegation member, Armen Rustamyan, representing Armenia. According to
our interlocutor, further on also the Azerbaijani delegate, in his
speech, tried to distort the facts by presenting allegedly a great
violation that the President of Armenia has visited NKR, that the
Syrian-Armenian refugee are relocated in these areas and so on. In his
response, Armen Rustamyan had noted that the visits to NKR or the fact
that Armenia is dealing with relocation of refugees, instead of
introducing it as violations, Azerbaijan should stop causing a
misunderstanding to the CE, give up with its practice of a “black
list”, which includes also some delegates present at the session. When
presenting the border situation, the Azerbaijani delegate cast the
blame totally to the Armenian side. “We presented the reality that the
real violation and infringement of the value system is just the
escalation of the war, which Azerbaijan is currently doing in front of
everyone’s eyes. I directly told him, you attacked, naturally you were
pushed back, naturally you have loses, much more than our side. First
to attack, then having losses after the attack and then to come here
and complain? This is just an Azerbaijani logic. It’s enough to put
this structure into misunderstanding, lead a direction suitable to
your campaign,” said Armen Rustamyan. Later on, a discussion on
Azerbaijan was held, the main theme of which was the presence of
political prisoners in our neighboring country. “The most ridiculous
thing was that Leyla Yunus is accused of conveying confidential
information in favor of Armenia, and is considered to be a traitor.
The events took such a turn that we defend Leyla Yunus, but there are
people who know her as a defender of human rights and so on,” said
Armen Rustamyan, adding that the Azerbaijani side is acting followed
by the same logic: to use the NKR conflict to get rid of all such
issues. “Now, they have introduced the notion of the “fifth column” in
the list, and everyone who, in their opinion, are exercising betrayal,
are included in this list.” To the question of what was the attitude
of the members of the Monitoring Committee to these discussions, Armen
Rustamyan responded that it was obvious to everyone that an event
happened just a month ago cannot be turned upside down and push the
Azerbaijan’s viewpoint forward. “But we all know what kind of serious
lobbying Azerbaijan conducts in the Council of Europe and this is our
biggest challenge,” he said. And to the question of what expectations
are there pertaining to the final documents, Armen Rustamyan said that
for example, rapporteur in Azerbaijan issue stated that he was given
recordings of the talk, etc. with the third party, which he cannot but
consider. “To think that in the future a more complete and
comprehensive assessment will be given to both Armenia’s and
Azerbaijan’s processes, I am not optimistic as I know how the voting
is held in the Council of Europe and under what influence they are. If
once we were talking about some interest, now, these people are so
deep involved into the lobby that they are implementing everything
instructed to them from Baku with a military discipline. Now, we have
a new quality in the Council of Europe. If a voting is expected in
favor of Azerbaijan, everyone like one command are present so that
there is no even a place to sit,” concluded Armen Rustamyan. To the
question of so, what Armenia should do, our interlocutor said that he
will talk about later on.

Nelly GRIGORYAN
Read more at:

“Nowhere, A Story of Exile” book on Armenian massacres in Baku presented

Saturday, September 06, 2014

Novosti international press center in Yerevan yesterday hosted
“Nowhere, A Story of Exile” book about a family of Armenian refugees
from Baku. The head of Ordinary Genocide Project Marina Grigoryan said
at the event that the book was published in the U.S. and is unique in
the sense that it is the first English-language book about the
Armenian massacres in Baku.

According to M. Grigoryan, the book is based on Anna Astvatsaturian
Turcotte’s diary that she kept at age of 10-12 when she lived in Baku.
Later in the United States where she moved along with her family, Anna
Astvatsaturian Turcotte published the book that contains her memories
of the 1988-1992 events. The book also includes recollections from
witnesses of persecution and atrocities committed against Armenians.

M. Grigoryan said that because of the records made in the diary, Anna
Astvatsaturian Turcotte can be compared to Anne Frank, a Jewish girl
who described the Nazi terror in her wartime diary.

Ms. Grigoryan informed those present that the creative group of “The
Baku Tragedy in Eyewitness Accounts” Project that was launched on the
25th anniversary of the Armenian massacres in the Azerbaijani capital
went to the U.S. to meet with Armenian refugees residing there. “As a
result, extensive interesting materials with unique accounts were
gathered to be used for a new collection and a film,” the project head
said, adding that new forms of presenting the tragedy will be sought.

“We consider it important to show that not only Armenians, but also
families in which one of the spouses was of Armenian descent suffered
from the tragedy,” Marina Grigoryan said. She announced that the
English- and Russian-language premieres of the film are scheduled for
January 2015.

Novosti-Armenia news agency reports that Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte
who is on a visit to Yerevan said for her part that the Americans are
not familiar with the Karabakh problem and the Baku events, but
following the book’s publication and the meetings held, many of them
started taking a sincere interest.

She told those present that in September 1989 when she was 11 her
family fled Baku and moved to Armenia. The plight of Armenian refugees
from Baku worsened after the 1988 Spitak earthquake, amid the Karabakh
war and the disintegration of the USSR.

“After living in quite difficult conditions in Armenia for two and a
half years, our family made a decision to move to America. We arrived
in the U.S. with four suitcases, $180 and refugee status: that was all
we had. It was the beginning of a new peaceful future,” Astvatsaturian
Turcotte noted.

In her words, at that time she took a decision to preserve the diary
for her children and grandchildren so that “they could be aware of
their roots, their past and imagine those hardships that the people of
Artsakh have endured,” she said.

“Interest in the Baku events and the Karabakh independence process is
increasing in American society in recent years. Many members of the
Armenian Diaspora had no idea of it, and I consider this inadmissible.
My husband and me worked together to contribute to the adoption of the
resolution about Karabakh’s independence by the State of Maine,”
Astvatsaturian Turcotte stated.
In her words, she has repeatedly made speeches, sharing her memories
not only in various U.S. states, but also in the Congress, and she
received an invitation to deliver a speech in the European Parliament
in October.

“I will speak about the difficult path that Armenians of Baku have
followed, as well as the Karabakh problem and the work aimed at the
recognition of Karabakh’s independence,” said Anna Astvatsaturian
Turcotte, a lawyer and a mother of two. She was granted U.S.
citizenship in 1997.

The Ordinary Genocide Project is implemented the PR and Information
Center of the Armenian President’s Administration. As part of the
project, a series of documentaries was filmed in five languages about
the events in Sumgait, Baku, Maraga, the Ring Operation, Karabakh
records website was launched, and a number of books were published,
republished, and translated.

Putin’s Hand Was Shaking

Igor Muradyan, Political Analyst
Comments – 06 September 2014, 19:50

It is becoming obvious that the center of gravity of the international
conflicts has confidently moved to the Black Sea which was considered
a relatively stable region for a long time. In reality, however, there
has never been stability here, and there was something like balance of
forces between two major Black Sea states – Russia and Turkey – and
this circumstance became the main hindrance to intensifying
military-political presence of NATO and the United States in the Black
Sea region.

Research conducted in different political centers of the United
States, Europe and Russia has allowed figuring out the place of the
Black Sea Caucasus in actual politics. In most general terms, it is
possible to state that the United States, despite its attempts to
cooperate with Russia on a number of issues, is trying to maintain
certain tension in the Black Sea and South Caucasus region, as well as
the Caspian for the purpose of containment of not only Russia but also
Iran.

Such “framework” tension allows legitimizing a certain level of
military-political presence of the United States in the region, carry
out its intentions relating to medium and small states of the region,
attract them to participate in the U.S. strategy.

In this respect, the key question of actual regional research is: what
role and importance is envisaged by the United States for Turkey in
this region?

The intentions of the United States in the Black Sea and the South
Caucasus had quite limited logistical goals rather than large-scale
strategic ones which are aimed at moving forward-based objects to the
central regions of Eurasia. This contradicts the present intentions of
the United States in the regions of the Near East, Central and South
Asia.

The United States was not going to set up permanent military bases and
has formed a system of military logistics to support possible actions
in case of occurrence of threats to their interests and interests of
their partners in the West and Eurasia.

American experts think the United States had different intentions and
over the past few years have revised them to match the changing
situation. The United States did not need to boosts its military
forces in this region. It intended to maintain the balance of forces
in the Black Sea and the South Caucasus and, according to the
Americans, they have succeeded.

At present, in fact, there is a military intervention or strong
political pressure from Russia’s side, and the United States only
responds and reacts. The Americans are still interested in the setup
of the secure logistical system which may enable effective
transportation of military cargo and military contingent to Central
Asia without hindrances which, unlike the South Caucasus, is acquiring
greater importance for the United States.

The United States is viewing the United States as an important region
where activities aimed at China’s containment will be staged and the
importance of which has not weakened after the withdrawal of the
American troops from Afghanistan. The United States has broad
military-organizational tasks in Central Asia, which requires reliable
communications.

Aside from this, the United States must continue to implement
objectives aimed at ensuring the security of oil and gas
communications, both existing and presumed, the importance of which
has dropped considerably due to changes in the global situation of
carbohydrates. The intentions of the United States are not related to
the setup of front-based military objects but provision of reliable
means of communication.

The United States is trying to redirect the problems of the South
Caucasus to the European Union, i.e. have the Europeans cover expenses
and goals relating to the problems of integration of the region with
the European political and economic space.

The solution of the issues of accession of Georgia to NATO in the
short-term and medium-term perspective appears impossible due to both
the factor of Russia’s resistance and internal problems of NATO which
cannot afford and continue its enlargement.

Like in respect to the states of the Near East, the United States is
conducting a policy of strengthening defense capacity of the South
Caucasian countries and prevention of foreign pressure and
intervention. In this respect, the impression is that this U.S. policy
supposes prevention of intervention and pressure not only by Russia
but also by Turkey.

At the same time, these “frequent” movements do not resolve the
general goal – limitation of the influence of Russia and Turkey in the
Black Sea region. The United States is close to the necessity to
resolve the problems it had discerned a long time ago, and Washington
has always understood that sooner or later they would have to make
decisions on what Russia fears – creation of American bases in the
region.

Now, on the days of the NATO summit in Wales, it is clear that the
United States with the help of the United Kingdom and several other
members of the alliance, not NATO will resolve this issue. Without
creating a front-based system the United States cannot resolve the
problem of security in Eastern Europe and entire Europe.

Even radical Russian political scientists cannot deny that these U.S.
plans and intentions had been provoked, and they would not have been
there had Russia not pushed its way through without having necessary
sufficient forces and capacity.

Russia is at a loss, and the United States felt the historical chance
to return NATO’s former dynamics. The Russian mass media have
announced that Vladimir Putin has outlined a plan of settlement of the
Ukrainian crisis on board the plane, with his right hand on the left
knee but they did not specify that his hands were shaking. Whenever
the global system runs into a fragmentary crisis, the best thing is to
swallow the factors of the crisis, and highly unpleasant consequences
are awaiting Russia.

However, the problem of the policy and interests of Europe persists.
Europe does not hurry to consolidate with the United States to defend
European security, which has become absurd. The best way of inspiring
Europe to take more decisive actions is to shift the focus and centers
of tension in Europe from Central Europe to the Black Sea, i.e. the
Black Sea-Caucasus.

In fact, the model of the Crimean war is applied when the question is
whether Turkey will participate in this military-political action.
However, most probably, they will do without Turkey which cannot
continue to be a more or less reliable partner to NATO and the United
States.