Author: Kalantarian Kevo

NAIRA ZOHRABYAN: A NEW VECTOR OF ARMENIA-EU COOPERATION SHOULD BE FOUND

by Marianna Lazarian
Wednesday, October 16, 16:35

Armenia and Europe should find the optimal form of cooperation that
will not run contrary to the Customs Union, Naira Zohrabyan, Head of
the Armenian Parliament Committee for European Integration, MP from
Prosperous Armenia Party, said at a conference “Four Years of the
Eastern Partnership: Results and Challenges” in Yerevan, Wednesday.

“Further cooperation with the EU is so far obscure for me. Actually,
we will be cooperating in the field of supremacy of the law, human
rights protection, and anti-corruption fight. There is need for a
new vector of cooperation now,” she said.

According to Zohrabyan, Armenia’s foreign policy has obviously changed
after 3 September. She complained that as an MP she has not seen the
text of the

Association Agreement and does not know what would Armenia gain by
signing it.

“If the document contains provisions that constitute threat to Nagorno
Karabakh and our country, as some experts claim, so why we had been
negotiating for it with Europe for 4 years,” she said.

CHINESE PAINTING EXHIBIT MARKS 5 YEARS AT ARMENIAN CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE

WantChinaTimes, China
Oct 16 2013

Xinhua 2013-10-16 15:57 (GMT+8)

A two-day exhibition of Chinese paintings opened on Tuesday at the
museum of Hovhannes Tumanyan to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the
Confucius Institute in the Armenian capital.

The exhibition was organized by the Institute of Confucius at Yerevan
State Linguistic University and Dalyan University of Foreign Languages,
which is the new partner of the institute.

Tian Changchun, Chinese Ambassador to Armenia, addressed the opening
ceremony, underscoring the importance of Armenian-Chinese cultural
ties. He also expressed confidence that the institute will further
promote Chinese language and culture in Armenia.

Works by Chinese artists Liu Hong and Wang Chunli were on display in
the exhibition.

Naira Grigoryan, director of the Confucius Institute in Yerevan, told
Xinhua that the institute has facilitated Chinese language education
in Armenia via various activities, including the recent opening of
a Chinese language class in Gyumri, the second largest city of Armenia.

ARMENIA’S FIGHT AGAINST GENDER EQUALITY MORPHS INTO FIGHT AGAINST EU

Independent European Daily Express
Oct 16 2013

Wednesday, October 16, 2013 – 00:13Inter Press Service YEREVAN, Oct
15 (IPS) – Europe is getting a surprise bashing in Armenia over a law
on gender equality that many Armenians claim is designed to “promote”
homosexuality as a “European value.”

The strength of the backlash has prompted some political observers
to believe it is being artificially stoked in order to build popular
support for Yerevan’s decision last month to seek membership in
the Russia-led Customs Union at the expense of closer ties with the
European Union.

The law, titled On Equal Rights and Equal Opportunities for Men
and Women, was first mulled in 2009 and went into effect in June
with the broad aim of enforcing gender equality in all aspects of
daily life and outlawing gender discrimination. That may sound like
business-as-usual among EU members, but for Armenian society, where
men generally receive pride of place, it quickly sparked pushback.

Opponents have relied on scare tactics. Social media campaigns against
the gender equality law used images of young men wearing garish make-up
and transgender couples kissing each other to call for a fight against
“warped Western values,” and to “maintain family values.”

The campaigns also featured videos and articles that claim,
incorrectly, legislation in Denmark, Germany, Norway and Sweden allows
for incest and pedophilia, and strongly encourages same-sex marriages.

Such legislation, the advocates added, could be in store for Armenia.

The fear-mongering efforts hinge on the law’s definition of “gender” in
Article 3 as “acquired, socially fixed behavior of different sexes.” To
many Armenians, the word “acquired” is seen as code for homosexuality.

Although the backlash against the law began almost as soon as it
was adopted, it seemed to intensify after President Serzh Sargsyan
announced in early September that Armenia was ready to join the
Kremlin-led Customs Union.

At a Sep. 9 press conference, Archimandrite Komitas Hovnanian, a
prominent figure within the Armenian Apostolic Church, warned that
“[a] new religious movement is being formed which campaigns for
homosexuality, pedophilia, incest and other immoral things.”

“Everybody should be concerned with this,” Hovnanian instructed
journalists. “If we are Armenians, we have to take steps to prevent
this decadent phenomenon.”

Some MPs have proposed amendments to remove from the law references
to the word “gender,” but the suggestion has done nothing to lessen
the intensity in the debate. On Oct. 11, one Facebook group planned
to march in Yerevan against the gender law and so-called “European
values.”

The term has become a catch-all that embraces not only equal rights for
women – itself highly controversial for this conservative, patriarchal
society – but tolerance toward same-sex marriages and any sexual
minorities; anathema for most people living in the South Caucasus.

By contrast, Russia, which recently passed a law banning so-called
“homosexual propaganda,” is seen as a more virtuous model for
emulation.

“Armenian traditions and European values are very hard to combine. If
Europe accepts homosexualism and same-sex marriages, this does not
mean that they are acceptable for traditional Armenian families,”
commented sociologist Aharon Adibekian. “So, this is the main reason
for the approach displayed by society.”

He cautioned that the backlash against Europe has been brewing ever
since Armenia, in the 1990s, pledged to sign international agreements
to defend the rights of minorities.

While the anti-gender-equality campaign may seem extreme to outsiders,
it has had an impact. Leda Hovhannisian, a 38-year-old Yerevan
resident with a secondary-school level of education, says that,
despite the potential advantages for finding a well-paying job, she
now is horrified at the thought of her 16-year-old son ever going to
study in Europe or the United States.

“No, by no means! I would never want my child to travel to those
places where drug addiction, homosexuality and other forms of abuse are
widespread,” she stressed. “We hear about it every day. God forbid! I
would never allow him to go there.”

Others assail the campaign as nonsensical. “Unfortunately, many
people don’t even realise that this is a result of misinformation,”
commented 26-year-old computer programmer Emma Babaian.

Some administration critics believe that Facebook-spread warnings that
“the wind of perversion blows from the West” reveal an ulterior motive
on the part of authorities. Sargsyan’s administration, they contend,
wants to bolster public support for its decision to opt for Russia’s
economic embrace, rather than the EU’s.

Officials in Brussels have said an association agreement between the
EU and Armenia is incompatible with Yerevan’s looming membership in
the Customs Union.

“This was a carefully planned campaign, which was followed by the
recent heavy criticism over European values, as well as adoption of
the gender equality law which evoked fury among society, and all these
factors were exploited to discredit Europe,” argued Stepan Safarian,
secretary of the opposition, pro-Western Heritage Party.

Galust Sahakian, deputy chair of the governing Republican Party of
Armenia and head of its parliamentary faction, dismissed the notion.

“This is absurd,” Sahakian responded. “The law on gender equality has
nothing to do with diplomacy” and efforts to encourage public support
for the Customs Union. “They should not connect it either to Europe,
or to diplomacy, Russia or the whole world.”

Editor’s note: Marianna Grigoryan is a freelance reporter based in
Yerevan and editor of MediaLab.am. This story originally appeared
on EurasiaNet.org.

FAMILIES ESCAPING SYRIAN BATTLE RAISE TENSION IN OIL REGION (1)

Businessweek / Bloomberg
Oct 16 2013

By Sara Khojoyan

Gorge Mardyan and his family of four have lost most of their
possessions. Gorge left his job as a printer and they have fled their
large home in Aleppo, Syria, for a cramped one-room apartment in the
disputed South Caucasus region. Yet they feel lucky. They hope they
are out of danger.

The Mardyans are among 10,000 war refugees in the area. A century
after finding refuge in Syria from massacres and persecution by the
Ottoman Empire, Armenians are on the move again. More than 2 million
people have left Syria since the conflict there flared in 2011. So far,
the fighting has claimed more than 100,000 lives.

“This is the best for us,” mother of three Nelli says. “I took them
away from the war to let them just be children.”

While the number of Syrian refugees in Armenia is a fraction of the two
million who poured mainly into Turkey, Iraq and Jordan, their arrival
threatens to intensify tension in the energy-rich South Caucasus
region. As the Soviet Union collapsed two decades ago, Armenia and
Azerbaijan fought a war in the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region
and border skirmishes continue since a 1994 cease-fire.

The South Caucasus is the only non-Russian route toward Europe for
oil and gas produced in the Caspian region, where BP Plc (BP/) and
partners have invested more than $40 billion in the past 20 years.

Azerbaijan, the third largest oil producer in the former Soviet Union,
has threatened military action over the Nagorno-Karabakh assisted
settlements, which it says are illegal.

Bullet Escape “Me and my daughter Anna were on the balcony of our
Aleppo home,” says Nelli, 49. “We came inside to answer the phone. On
our return, we found bullets right at the place we had been sitting.”

Their escape in June almost ended in disaster when their Mercedes
taxi driver had to swerve to avoid another car and they plunged into
the flooded Arpa river outside Armenia’s capital.

“We escaped the war to fall into the river,” Gorge, 51, says. The
family was unhurt, though losing more possessions in the crash.

They are now settled in the Lachin district of Nagorno-Karabakh. Gorge
has temporary work as a plumber while his wife works as a janitor
for only $100 a month each.

“I can’t open a printing house because I can’t find materials we were
using in Aleppo,” says Georg. “At least we don’t pay for utilities,
because the Nagorno-Karabakh government covers this.”

School Welcome Nelli says she doesn’t mind the 30-minute walk to school
or nearest town and they have been made welcome. The school has allowed
her children to attend without uniform because they can’t afford them.

They share a kitchen and bathroom with five other Syrian Armenian
families. Their Aleppo fifth-floor home is shuttered and closed,
with no return in sight. Tensions have escalated to over a Aug. 21
poison-gas attack near Damascus that the U.S. says killed 1,400 people.

“I am happy that we are at least far from shootings and missiles,”
says Nelli.

Still, Azerbaijan has warned that it may even start military operations
over some of the settlements.

“It’s a big concern to us as it aims to change the demographic balance
in the region,” Elman Abdullayev, a spokesman for the Azeri Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, says by telephone from Baku, the Azeri capital.

“With this illegal settlement, the Republic of Armenia is also damaging
the peace process.”

Tax Breaks Hundreds of ethnic Armenian families are being granted
aid and tax breaks as the government in Yerevan is resettling them
in some of the districts flanking the disputed enclave, which were
taken into the Armenian control during a war with Azerbaijan after
the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

About 700,000 Azeris were forced to leave the areas in what Azerbaijan
describes as ethnic cleansing. Brushing off four United Nations
Security Council resolutions demanding a withdrawal from the districts,
Armenia has defended their conquest by the need to create a security
buffer zone.

Azerbaijan has forged closer ties with Israel and NATO-member Turkey
and increased defense spending 27-fold to $3.7 billion a year in the
past decade, outlays that exceed Armenia’s annual budget. Armenia
hosts a Russian military base in its second-biggest town of Gyumri,
near the Turkish border, and Russian troops guard Armenia’s borders
with Iran and Turkey.

Resettlement Aid “We can’t leave them without attention,”
Nagorno-Karabakh president Bako Sahakyan says in an interview in the
capital Stepanakert. While he doesn’t have a specific resettlement
program for Syrian-Armenians, he is applying the resettlement policy
of adjacent districts to them as well.

“Despite the fact that we also are facing difficulties economically,
we try to soften their problems and give them some opportunities,”
he says.

Hovhannes Asmaryan, 43, who moved to Stepanakert from Aleppo a year
ago, was granted those opportunities in form of tax privileges for
$600,000 investments into kiwi and olive gardening in the disputed
region.

“We don’t worry about conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh,” the businessman
says. “We had some income in Syria, but because of the military
situation, businesses simply stopped operating.”

About 50,000 Armenians are still in Syria, while more than 70 have been
killed and 150 wounded, according to the Diaspora Ministry of Armenia.

Legal Help The Aleppo law firm of Meghri has helped 4,000 Syrian
Armenians gain Armenian citizenship in the past two years, according
to its director Boghos Aghababian, 57.

Armenia is seeking assistance from European, U.S. and Russian
businesses for a district estimated to cost $10 million, designed
for 150 Syrian families called “New Aleppo.”

Syrian-Armenians have been given free entry visas, taxation
privileges and free education. By contrast, the state did little for
Iraqi-Armenian refugees who came to Armenia during the Iraq war in
2003, according to Hranush Hakobyan, the diaspora minister.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sara Khojoyan in Yerevan at
[email protected]

FULLER CENTER AIMS TO HONOR 100 YEARS BY SAVING 100 FAMILIES

Wednesday, October 16th, 2013

The Fuller Center for Housing Armenia

YEREVAN-The Fuller Center for Housing Armenia (FCHA) announced that
it will build and renovate 100 homes between now and December 2015
to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The
project, called “Honoring 100 Years by Saving 100 Families,” will be
driven by charitable contributions to give low-income and homeless
families a safe and decent home, while emphasizing the importance of
families remaining in Armenia on a permanent basis.

Armenians worldwide are welcomed to support this project and honor
the memories of their loved ones who were martyrs or survivors of
the Armenian Genocide. A donation of $10,500 will sponsor a single,
completed home. The beneficiary family will receive a personalized,
commemorative plaque inscribed with the donor’s choice of message or
dedication. When a donation is less than a single home sponsorship,
FCHA will combine the contributions it receives with other gifts and
assign a beneficiary family when $10,500 has been collected. All donors
will receive a profile of the beneficiary family with photos showing
their current living conditions. When construction is completed,
all donors will receive a certificate from FCHA and photos of the
new house.

“We are reaching out to our compatriots around the world to partner
with us on this new campaign. We hope that families in the Diaspora
will come together and support the construction of homes in the names
of their loved ones. Our objective is to commemorate the Armenian
Genocide in a respectful and positive way by addressing the needs of
Armenia’s most vulnerable population, namely our homeless,” stated
Ashot Yeghiazaryan, president of the Fuller Center for Housing Armenia.

“Since 2000, the FCHA team has been working in Armenia to eliminate
poverty housing; so far we have assisted over 650 families. However,
the housing need in Armenia is still high. Over 64,000 families
(about 8% of population) need to either build or renovate their homes.

We have seen that helping one family at a time is making a difference
for a lifetime, and impacting more than one generation. We have
established the campaign, ‘Honoring 100 Years by Saving 100 Families,’
to allow us to share our love and dedication with more people who
need simple and affordable housing,” Yeghiazaryan concluded.

In June 2013, the Fuller Center for Housing Armenia celebrated its
5th anniversary. On this occasion, many longtime and new partners
participated in the construction of homes, including Armenia Marriott
Hotel Yerevan, KPMG, U.S. Embassy, Armenian General Benevolent Union
(AGBU), and Christian Youth Mission for Armenia (CYMA).

The Fuller Center for Housing Armenia is a non-government, charitable
organization that supports community development in the Republic
of Armenia by assisting in building and renovating simple, decent
and affordable homes, as well as advocating the right to decent
shelter as a matter of conscience and action. FCHA provides long-term,
interest-free loans to low-income families. The monthly repayments flow
into a Revolving Fund, which is used to help more families make the
transition out of poverty housing. This system provides a financial
structure for sustainable community development.

To Honor 100 Years by Saving 100 Families, please send donations to
The Fuller Center for Housing, Inc., PO Box 523, Americus, Georgia
31709. Please write “Armenia-100” in the memo line of your check.

To donate online, please visit
weblink.donorperfect.com/FCH_Armenia100. If a donor or group of donors
wishes to sponsor a single, completed home at $10,500, please email
FCHA at [email protected] to provide your message or
dedication for the plaque for the beneficiary family.

For more information and to learn about summer volunteer
opportunities with FCHA’s 2014 Global Builders program, please visit
or email [email protected].

CONCERT MARKING ARAM KHACHATURYAN’S 110TH BIRTHDAY ANNIVERSARY TAKES PLACE IN TOKYO

21:25 ~U 16.10.13

A concert marking the 110th anniversary of the great Armenian composer
Aram Khachaturyan took place at the Oji Hall, Ginza area, Tokyo, Japan,
on Tuesday, the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
Armenia reports.

Armenian Ambassador to Japan Hrant Poghosyan spoke of the composer’s
contribution to world musical heritage.

The well-known pianist Armen Babakhanyan, cellist Aram Talanyan and
pianist Julieta ardanyan performed compositions by Aram Khachaturyan
and Karen Khachaturyan.

Attending the concert were Japanese officials, diplomats, members of
the Armenian-Japanese friendship union, lecturers and journalists.

Armenian News – Tert.am

NKR PRESIDENT MEETS BELGIAN SENATORS

17:56 16.10.2013

On 16 October Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan met with a group
of Senator at the Belgium Senate, Central Information Department of
the Office of the Artsakh Republic President reported.

Issues related to Belgium-Artsakh relationship, particularly the
development of inter-parliamentary ties were discussed during the
meeting.

The sides mentioned the existence of necessary conditions for
cooperation.

RA NA PRESIDENT DELIVERS A SPEECH IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

15.10.2013

On October 15 in the European Parliament the Third Congress of the
Armenians of Europe continued the work, where members of the European
Parliament, representatives of the Armenian community of Europe,
the RA diplomatic missions and high ranking guests were taking part.

In the Congress the RA NA President Hovik Abrahamyan delivered
a speech.

During the Congress the NKR President Bako Sahakyan, His Holiness
Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, the Chairman of
the EPP faction of the European Parliament Joseph Daul, the Chair
of the European Union-Armenia Friendship Group Eleni Theocharous,
the Chairman of the Hay Dat/Armenian Cause Office Gaspar Karapetyan,
the Coordinator of the Armenian Cause Committees Hakob Ter-Khachaturyan
and others delivered speeches.

On the same day in the European Parliament the RA NA President Hovik
Abrahamyan met with the Vice President of the European Parliament
Jacek Protasiewicz.

In the course of the meeting the sides discussed issues relating to
Armenia-EU cooperation, touched upon regional problems, the peaceful
settlement of the NK conflict and the Armenian-Turkish relations. Both
sides highlighted the stability and security of the region.

Hovik Abrahamyan has noted that the European Union has been and remains
one of the most important partners of Armenia, and our country is
aimed at continuing the cooperation. In his word, the decision of
Armenia to join the Customs Union does not mean at all suspension
of the political dialogue with the European Union. The NA President
noted that the European Union has been and remains one of the most
important partners of Armenia, and within the framework of the Eastern
Partnership the European rapprochement is one of the priorities of
our foreign policy. Hovik Abrahamyan has stressed that Armenia will
continue the process of deepening of democratic reforms. “We are
ready to more deepen and expand our cooperation with the European
Union in different directions and in all possible dimensions,”
the NA President noted. In this context the political dialogue
going on within the framework of the parliamentary cooperation was
emphasized. Mr Abrahamyan invited the Vice President of the European
Parliament to Armenia.

Thanking for the meeting and the invitation the Vice President of the
European Parliament Jacek Protasiewicz highlighted the development
of the European-Union-Armenia relations and expressed hope that
the decision of Armenia to join the Customs Union will not impede
Armenia-European Union further cooperation.

During the meeting the sides discussed other issues of bilateral
interest, too.

AZERBAIJANI EXPERT: FOR RUSSIA, AZERBAIJAN IS AN IMPORTANT, NON-DEMOCRATIC AND CORRUPTED COUNTRY

by David Stepanyan

ARMINFO
Wednesday, October 16, 16:34

Azerbaijan has very much important key geo-political potential to
conduct the balanced policy in the region. Sometimes this helps
Ilham Aliyev to well maneuver between the superpowers, the head
of the Centre for Monitoring of Election and Teaching Democracy,
Anar Mamedli, said at the on-line interview when replying to Arminfo
correspondent’s question about negative assessment of the presidential
election in Azerbaijan.

“We have to strictly distinguish between the geo-political interests
of Russia and the Western countries. For Russia, Azerbaijan is an
important, non-democratic and corrupted country. In such conditions
it is very much easy to push the policy of the Baku government. But
the Western countries, which prefer to take Azerbaijan as a country
of oil and gas transit, ignore human rights abuse. Unfortunately,
for his part, Aliyev uses these relations very well”, – he emphasized.

Asked if the Azerbaijani society links any expectations with a new/old
president, Mamedli replied that the level of the true voting turnout
showed that activeness of voters in Azerbaijan reduced very much. The
true voting turnout was 30-40%. “First, it is linked with distrust
in the electoral process as a functional democratic institution.

Secondly, this is evidence of the fact that the people in the country
have no expectations from Aliyev’s government and the policy conducted
by him”, – Mamedli concluded.

To note, 84,55% of voters voted for Aliyev during the presidential
election in Azerbaijan on 9 October. The voters turnout was more
than 72%.

ARMENIAN CLERGYMAN CRITICAL OF GENDER LAW (VIDEO)

16:45 ~U 16.10.13

An Armenian clergyman, who attended Wednesday the procession against
the gender perversion in Armenia, has described the controversial
gender legislation as “the labor pains of those whose purpose is to
spoil nations”.

“This is a decision not conforming to any moral standard as it
runs contrary to not only the will of God and the principles of
Christianity, but also the will of nature, because every creature is
in nature is supposed to have his or her own set of values within it,”
Komitas Vardapet Hovnanyan told a news conference on Wednesday.

“By yielding to the gender law, we pave way to the eradication of our
national values. We are here to say only that three thousand people
have signed it, with the rest disagreeing to the idea. We are here
to raise the entire Armenian nation’s voice because all this has to
do with the future of an Armenian.”

The clergyman said the church will never be tolerant to same-sex
unions and will never wed such couples even if the families approve
of their relations or marriage.