Author: Kalantarian Kevo

RUSSIAN WEAPON MAY HAVE BEEN USED IN DOWNING ARMENIAN HELICOPTER, SAYS KARABAKH DM

KARABAKH | 18.11.14 | 10:51

According to preliminary data, Azerbaijani forces used a Russian
weapon in shooting down the Armenian Mi-24 military helicopter on
November 12, Karabakh Defense Minister Movses Hakobyan told RFE/RL’s
Armenian Service.

Despite being Armenia’s closest political and military ally as well as
a mediator in the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement process, Russia is, at
the same time, one of the largest suppliers of weapons to Azerbaijan.

It is estimated that Moscow has sold modern types of weapons, including
heavy materiel, worth around $4 billion to Baku in the past few years.

“Our observations and data of Azerbaijan show that the helicopter
was shot down from a Strela anti-aircraft missile launcher. This is
Russian self-guided missiles,” Hakobyan said on Monday, at the same
time stressing that there is no agreement that would prevent Russia
from selling arms to any country.

The Karabakh minister added: “Of course, it’s a pity, because we
are strategic allies, and I think that Russia, pursuing its economic
interests, should also take into account our interests, which does
not happen,” he said.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan also voiced concern over Russian arms
supplies to Azerbaijan last summer. In an interview with Argentina’s
Clarin newspaper during his official visit to Buenos Aires in July
Sargsyan, in particular, said: “It is a very painful subject and
our people are worried that our strategic ally sells weapons to
Azerbaijan. But we are very confident that Armenia has the capability
to defend its borders…Despite the fact that Russia sells weapons
[to Azerbaijan] I have no doubts Russia will honor its commitments
to us in times of adversity.”

Russian officials describe arms supplies to Azerbaijan as “business”.

Some experts also point out that even if Russia did not sell arms
to Azerbaijan, Baku could buy similar types of weapons from other
countries.

ARMENIAN WINERIES SHOWCASED THEIR PRODUCTS AT ENOEXPO 2014 IN KRAKOW

YEREVAN, November 18. /ARKA/. Armenian wine producers showcased their
products at ENOEXPO 2014 held in Krakow on November 5-7, head of the
Association of Armenian Winemakers Avag Harutiunyan told reporters
on Monday.

“It was the first time we participated in the exhibition in Krakow. We
did our best… Armenia was represented by Yerevan Brandy Factory,
Shahnazaryan Wine-Brandy House, Edvag Group, Golden Grape ArmAs,
Maran and Armenia Wine factory”, Harutiunyan said.

Unfortunately, unlike their Georgian colleagues Armenian wine producers
had modest presentation, little advertisement and PR, Harutiunyan
said. Yet, they received medals and got foreigners interested in
their products, he said.

Such exhibitions provide a good chance for local companies to show
themselves, he said.

Some 142 producers of alcoholic drinks from Austria, Armenia, Croatia,
Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Portugal,
Romania, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain and Ukraine participated in
the twelfth ENOEXPO in Krakow. -0–

DEMORALIZED, SYRIAN REFUGEES RETURN HOME

17.11.2014

Many Christians, Armenians and Kurds who fled northeastern Syria in
recent years have been returning, choosing home over discrimination,
low-paying menial jobs and poor living conditions abroad. Sophie
Cousins reports.

Twenty-five-year-old Harrod Joseph just returned from patrolling a
Christian neighborhood in the northeastern Syrian city of Qamishli,
right near the Turkish border.

He joined the Syriac Christian security force, Sutoro, which works
to secure the inner city of the three Kurdish-dominated cantons in
northern Syria, half a year ago after he returned from eight months
in Armenia and eight months in Lebanon.

“I was so worried about the situation and I wanted to continue my
education so I went to Armenia,” he told DW.

But Armenia didn’t live up to Harrod’s expectations. He’d planned
to send money back to his family in Syria but instead had to borrow
money from them because he couldn’t find a job.

Eventually he got a job washing dishes at a cafe, but the wages were
so dismal he could barely afford to survive in a cramped, two-bedroom
apartment that he shared with seven other Syrians.

“We as Syrians got really low wages and only jobs that didn’t require
any skill or education. There wasn’t much of a warm welcome. I felt
like a stranger. Of course they were Armenian, but I’m a Syrian
Armenian and that made a big difference,” he said.

Realizing there were no education or employment opportunities on the
horizon, he travelled to Lebanon aiming to cross from there into Syria
but became stuck for eight months because the border and route home
wasn’t safe.

Harrod made it back to Qamishli, but after 16 months abroad, the city
was almost unrecognizable.

“In the early days of the revolution, there were no checkpoints and
no political parties on the streets,” he said. “When I came back the
city was completely different and new – even the people had changed. So
many people had left and so many refugees had arrived.”

Harrod said he was happy to be supporting his family but hoped to be
able to continue his education in Europe one day.

“If I leave again, I wouldn’t leave by myself, I would take my family.

I don’t want the same story to repeat itself.”

‘Fighting together’

Many people DW talked to across northeastern Syria were critical of
those who choose to leave for Europe. Kurds in particular stressed
that it was their duty to protect their land, identity and people
from the onslaught of the “Islamic State.”

A senior member of Sutoro, Aboud, who didn’t want to use his surname,
shared similar sentiments.

Many Kurds in northeastern Syria are devoted to fighting IS

“We want to stop the migration of Assyrians to Europe,” he told DW.

“We want to encourage everyone to come home and fight.

“Ethnicity and religion shouldn’t matter. We’re fighting this war
together,” Aboud said.

George, a man with a thick grey moustache and round belly, his wife
Jacqueline and their four children left Derike, a small but largely
deserted city in the Hasaka province, one year into the Syrian crisis.

While they were grateful the city had been spared the war’s most
gruesome features, the family struggled to cope with no work, rising
food prices, a lack of electricity and water and the general feeling
of instability.

They fled to the Netherlands in the hopes of better job prospects.

There George worked as a farmer, harvesting cucumbers, and tried his
best to pick up the language.

But the family struggled to live comfortably off George’s low pay
and in living conditions – they shared a one-room apartment – that
were a stark contrast to their modest family home back in Syria.

They also faced discrimination.

“I realized that I was only regarded and treated as a human being
where I come from,” George told DW, adding that he endured verbal
abuse for being Syrian. “I am Christian. Doesn’t that mean I have
rights in Holland, too?”

After two years, the family moved back to Syria.

‘Death is everywhere’

Sixty-eight-year-old Armenian priest Dajad Hagopian wears his clerical
clothing every day even though he only gives a sermon once a week to
a handful of people at the Armenian Orthodox Church in Derike. There
used to be 450 Armenians here but now only 200 remain.

Even war couldn’t keep Dajad away from home

Dajad left Syria before the war broke out because he was despondent
about the plight of Armenians. He spent four years in Germany before
returning: He missed his homeland.

“People ask what Germany was like and I tell them my house had four
walls like theirs,” he said, adding that he’s not in the position to
tell people not to leave when three of his own children recently took
off for Europe.

“God said give us our daily bread, and we get it. We may not get as
much, but we have fruit, meat and bread, and that’s all we need,”
he said.

“People think that death is just in Syria, but it’s everywhere.”

Balakian Reads with Turkish Writers on Iowa International Program Tour
Sponsored by US State Department

ARTS | NOVEMBER 14, 2014 5:27 PM
________________________________

ISTANBUL/YEREVAN — Peter Balakian was part of a US State
Department-sponsored literary tour in Istanbul and Yerevan from
October 17 to 23 that included five American writers who were part of
the University of Iowa International Writers Program (IWP).
Christopher Merrill, poet and nonfiction writer and director of the
Program, led the group that included Balakian, novelists Maureen
Freely and Gish Jen, and poet Mary Hickman.

The tour involved readings at Bogazici University and the Beyoglu Art
Gallery in Istanbul, and American University of Armenia and Yerevan
State University in Yerevan, as well as teaching creative-writing
workshops and meeting with students at the universities.

On Saturday evening at the Beyoglu Municipality Art Gallery on
Istiklal Street, Balakian, Jen, and Freely read with young Turkish
fiction writers Tugba Doga, Yalcin Tosun and Melida Tuzunoglu. Freely
and Jen read fiction and Balakian read poetry, and nonfiction from the
chapter “Istanbul was Constantinople” in Black Dog of Fate. In
reflecting on the complex history of Istanbul through the lens of
Armenian memory and his family history, Balakian gave the audience a
brief portrait of the Balakian and Panosyan familiy pasts in Istanbul
before the Armenian genocide and discussed the historical Armenian
presence in the city and the complexity of identity that has ensued.
Following the reading there was an affirmative question and
conversation period with an engaged Turkish audience.

The next day, the US Consulate’s Public Affairs Officer Craig Dicker
hosted a party at which Turkish writers, US foreign service officers,
and American writers, academics, and journalists socialized into the
evening.

On October 20, the group flew (via Vienna because of the blockaded
Turkish-Armenian border) to Yerevan where the writers met with
Armenian university students at the American Corner — a library
sponsored by the US embassy, then went to AUA to read their work. The
tour, which was part of a program of literary cultural exchange that
Merrill organizes and directs each year with the US State Department,
was aimed in part at fostering dialogue between Armenians and Turks as
the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide approaches. Balakian’s
presence as a literary bridge between the two cultures was important,
especially in Turkey, and program director and poet Christopher
Merrill noted: “It was deeply moving for me to visit Armenia on the
eve of the 100th anniversary of the genocide — the tragedy that
created the template for so much of the barbarism of the modern world,
some of which I have tried to chart in my writings. And it was no less
moving to spend time in the monastery of Geghard, where a monk sang
for us a hymn in his rich tenor, the sacred words impressing
themselves in the stone. To hold in my mind this ancient religious
tradition and the complicated political reality of this moment in
history made clear the necessity of turning the commemoration of
horror into a renewed commitment to hold the Turkish government to
account not only for the evil committed in 1915 but for a history of
attempts to evade responsibility for the crimes committed in the last
days of the Ottoman Empire.

“That was why it was so important to see Peter Balakian share a stage
with young Turkish writers in Istanbul. For what we learned at every
turn is that there are progressive men and women in both Turkey and
Armenia determined to come to terms with this tragedy — the necessary
first step in the normalization of relations between the two
countries.”

Balakian’s reading in Istanbul marked the first time in recent history
that an Armenian diasporan writer read in public with Turkish writers.
Balakian said, “It was an occasion of some symbolic significance and
a small step toward more openness.”

ARF Australia condemns shooting down of Karabakh helicopter

Source: armenia.com.au | Friday, 14 November 2014

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation leadership in Australia has
released the following statement:

On Wednesday, 12th November 2014, a helicopter participating in
military drills in Nagorno Karabakh was shot down by Azerbaijan
forces, with three pilots suspected to be dead.

The ARF Australia Tro Gomide strongly condemns this unprovoked act by
Azerbaijan.

This cowardly breaking of the ceasefire agreement proves what the
Armenian side of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict has been saying all
along, that Azerbaijan is not interested in a peaceful resolution in
the region.

We call on the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to strongly condemn these
acts by Azerbaijan and the war-mongering of the country’s leader,
Ilham Aliyev.

Our thoughts are with the families of the fallen pilots.

ARF Australia Tro Gomide
Sydney, Australia

Azeri Report
Nov 16 2014

Azerbaijan’s Rights Activists on the Brink

By Vugar Gojayev, Eurasianet.org

BAKU. November 15, 2014: When Azerbaijan served as chair of the
Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, it scoffed at the spirit
and purpose of the organization and moved vigorously to squash all
forms of free speech at home. Now that Baku no longer holds the top
spot, civil society activists are worrying about what Azerbaijani
authorities will do next.

All civil society actors in Azerbaijan currently are grappling with a
daunting dilemma: either stop engaging in rights-related activism or
pay a high price, in particular face the prospect of criminal
prosecution. Dozens of activists and independent journalists remain
behind bars for no reason other than engaging in rights work or
tacitly promoting free speech. At the moment, the country’s jails hold
at least 90 political prisoners, almost double the number in Belarus
and Russia combined. These prisoners of conscience face a variety of
cooked-up charges, including hooliganism, drug possession, tax evasion
and treason.

Azerbaijan relinquished its Committee of Ministers chairmanship on
November 13. Far from softening its repressive behavior and cleaning
up its awful rights record during its six-month tenure, the government
stepped up its suppression of internal dissent. At least 13 activists
were arrested and at least 10 others were convicted on politically
motivated charges following flawed trials. Authorities rounded up the
country’s most senior human rights defenders and other leading
activists, including Leyla Yunus, veteran human rights defender and
director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy, and her husband,
the political commentator Arif Yunus. They also detained Rasul
Jafarov, chairman of Azerbaijan’s Human Rights Club, Intigam Aliyev,
prominent lawyer and chairman of the Legal Education Society, and the
famous opposition journalist Seymur Haziyev.

Some of those detained in recent months have serious health
conditions. Yet, authorities keep them locked up, even as they fail to
provide any information to suggest that pre-trial detention is
warranted. They also have not released any credible evidence that
would support the charges against these recent detainees.

In addition to politically motivated arrests, dozens of draconian laws
regulating the operations of non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
have been adopted. The offices of several local and international NGOs
were recently raided, their bank accounts frozen and staff
interrogated. As a result of increasing pressure, many groups have
felt compelled to cease operations.

While the Azerbaijani government has been ruthless in its clampdown,
it remains sensitive about its public image, a fact underscored by
Baku’s efforts to lavish money on PR in Washington and the EU. Baku’s
PR acumen needs to be kept in mind by those who mine for signs of its
intentions. Some Western partners have lauded President Ilham Aliyev’s
government for releasing four political prisoners in mid-October. The
truth is the release does not change anything, and it is certainly not
indicative of a softening of the Aliyev administration’s stance on
dissent. It is important to note that before the four were pardoned,
they were coerced into acknowledging in writing their “crime,” begging
for forgiveness, praising Aliyev, objecting to being called “political
prisoners” and denouncing the “anti-Azerbaijan or pro-Armenian
activities” of international organizations.

Aliyev’s administration has a habit of using a “revolving door”
tactic, releasing few and arresting new political prisoners. Since the
October amnesty, at least three more activists have been jailed on
bogus charges. Police accused two of them on hooliganism for “swearing
in public place,” and the other faces “narcotics” charges. They all
have rejected the accusations, insisting their arrests are retaliation
for their rights-related work.

During the Azerbaijani chairmanship, the Council of Europe chose
mostly to avert its eyes to Baku’s violations or make toothless
statements and merely symbolic criticisms. This head-in-the-sand
approach has prompted activists in Baku to question the point of the
Council of Europe.

Sadly, Azerbaijan’s refusal to release people imprisoned on
politically motivated charges and end its abuses has not affected its
relationships with the United States and European Union. Western
diplomats tend to prefer backroom diplomacy to public pressure, but,
in Azerbaijan’s case, there is absolutely no indication that private
talks have had any positive effect.

The international community’s inaction means that the end of the
Azerbaijan’s independent human rights community is nearing soon.
Unless Aliyev’s government understands that there are serious
consequences for its abuses, Baku’s free pass on human rights abuses
will continue. -0-

QUALIFICATION S EURO 2016
Bernard Challandes après Portugal-Arménie (1-0) : >

Le sélectionneur arménien Bernard Challandes ne décolère pas quant à
l’attitude du Portugal avant sa rencontre face à l’Arménie pour les
qualifications de l’Euro 2016 vendredi. Barnard Challandes accuse les
Portugais par leur attitude > dit Bernard
Challandes.

Krikor Amirzayan

dimanche 16 novembre 2014,
Krikor Amirzayan (c)armenews.com

California Newswire
Nov 14 2014

Calif. Gov. Brown Appoints Two to Orange County Superior Court

By Christopher Simmons

SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Earlier this week, Calif.
Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. announced the appointment of Gassia
Apkarian and Craig E. Arthur to judgeships in the Orange County
Superior Court.

Apkarian, 47, of Mission Viejo, has been senior attorney and president
at Apkarian Defense APC since 2007. She served as a deputy public
defender at the Orange County Public Defender’s Office from 2000 to
2007, public relations advisor to President of Armenia Robert
Kocharyan from 1998 to 1999 and was executive director of Democrats
2000 from 1997 to 1998. Apkarian served as special assistant to the
ambassador at the Embassy of Armenia in Washington, D.C. from 1996 to
1997 and was western regional director of the Armenian Assembly of
America in 1995, where she was deputy executive director from 1994 to
1995 and country executive director from 1992 to 1994. She earned a
Juris Doctor degree from the University of La Verne College of Law and
a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Irvine.
Apkarian fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge
Francisco F. Firmat. Apkarian is a Democrat.

Arthur, 53, of Tustin, has served as a commissioner at the Orange
County Superior Court since 2005. He was an attorney in private
practice from 1999 to 2005 and an attorney at the Law Office of Harold
LaFlamme from 1990 to 2002. Arthur served as an attorney at the Orange
County Public Defender’s Office from 1989 to 1990. He earned a Juris
Doctor degree from the Western State University College of Law, a
Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University, Long Beach
and an Associate of Arts degree from Orange Coast College. He fills
the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Craig E. Robison.
Arthur is a Democrat.

The compensation for each of these positions is $184, 610.

EU-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group: Fate of helicopter crew
remains unknown because of fire shots by Azerbaijan

12:32 15/11/2014 >> POLITICS

Member of the European Parliament and head of the EU-Armenia
Parliamentary Friendship Group, Eleni Theocharous, has issued a
statement condemning Azerbaijan’s violent actions in downing an
unarmed Artsakh helicopter. The statement calls on the EU to form an
ad hoc commission to examine what happened on the ground, Asbarez
reports.

“With this statement, I feel the obligation to condemn a provocative
action taken by the Azerbaijani Military Forces, on November 12, 2014,
against innocent people who have probably lost their lives,”
Theocharous says in her statement.

According to her, in fact, the Azerbaijani Military Forces shot down
an unarmed helicopter of the Nagorno Karabakh (NKR) Defense Army while
it was on a training flight.

“The fate of the crew members remains unknown because of Azerbaijan’s
continued shootings and therefore the rescue operation seems to be
very complicated. This incident is the most serious one since the
cease fire agreement signed in 1994 by Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh
Republic and Armenia,” said head of the EU-Armenia Parliamentary
Friendship Group. She also noted that she had already sent a letter to
the President of the European Commission Jan Claude Junkcer and to
other Commissioners in which she highlighted the facts of the
incident.

“The EU should condemn this action and support the efforts for the
solution of the problem on the basis of the right of
self-determination,” the statement reads.

As NKR Defense Ministry press service reported earlier, on November
12, at around 1:45 pm, Nagorno Karabakh Air Forces’ Mi-24 helicopter
was shot by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces during military training
flight in the airspace in the eastern section of Karabakh – Azerbaijan
Line of Contact. The land, on which the incident occurred, is in close
proximity to the line of contact. Opponent after the incident
continued intense bombardment scene from weapons of different caliber.
The place where the helicopter was shot is close to the Line of
Contact. The enemy continued to fire shots from weapons of different
calibers after the incident.

Meanwhile, the press secretary of Armenian Defense Minister Artsrun
Hovhannisyan wrote on his Facebook page that Azerbaijani Armed Forces
have carried out an unprecedented provocation on the border with the
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh; this has also led to escalation of the
situation. In the same time the fabrications of the Azerbaijani side,
as if the Armenian helicopters had attacked their positions and they
allegedly had merely responded to this step, are senseless. “The study
of the wreckage of the helicopter will confirm that he was not armed.
The escalation of the Azerbaijani side has continued even after the
helicopter fall down. Moreover, the Azerbaijani side continued
shelling, not allowing even to get closer to the pilots. The
consequences of this unprecedented escalation will be very harmful for
the Azerbaijani side and will remain as a stain on the conscience of
the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan. Captain of the
helicopter was Major Sergei Sahakyan. Information about the fate of
the crew will be given later,” Artsrun Hovhannisyan stated.

Source: Panorama.am

Armenian and Karabakh Presidents visit military divisions of Defense Army

17:50, 15 November, 2014

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS. On 15 November Artsakh Republic
President Bako Sahakyan and President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh
Sargsyan visited several military divisions of the Defense Army
located in the central and eastern parts of the republic.

The Central Information Department of the Office of the President of
the Nagorno Karabakh Republic informed “Armenpress” that the
Presidents also took part at the opening ceremonies of new objects in
a set of military units, watched battalion tactical exercises in army
posts and military drills.

President Sahakyan considered the continuous modernization of the
technical equipment and raising the combat readiness of the servicemen
pivotal directions of army building, adding that those processes
highly contributed to maintenance of peace and stability in our
region.

On the same day the Presidents of the two Armenian republics partook
in the ceremony of opening a new angiography department upgraded with
modern equipments in the Republican Medical Center of capital
Stepanakert. President Sahakyan noted that consistent development of
the health care sphere was and would always be in the spotlight of the
state authorities.