Author: Kalantarian Kevo

NAKHIJEVAN: BAKU TAKING UP ENTERTAINING ARITHMETIC

September 18, 2013 – 15:32 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Baku, dissatisfied with the calculation of “damages
inflicted to Azerbaijan by Armenia,” looks to continue the entertaining
arithmetic by calculating damages inflicted to Nakhijevan.

The works group, led by a doctor of economics, professor Khanhuseyn
Kazimli, consists of volunteers which will calculate as they’re
ordered to.

As APA Azeri news agency reported, “the surface contacts between
Nakhijevan Autonomous Republic and Azerbaijan have been cut as a
result of expansion of Armenian separatism and aggression started
from the beginning of the 90s of the last century. Particularly,
different provocations committed by the Armenians on the railway line
and terrorist acts against civilians caused the complete suspension
of this transport. This has resulted in the blockade of Nakhijevan.”

The damage was calculated at once to amount to “hundreds of millions of
manats (AZN) in economic damage.” As the website claims, “all economic
and cultural damages of the Autonomous Republic caused by the closing
of railway and highway over last 20 years, as well as funds allocated
from Azerbaijan’s budget for the protection of Nakhijevan should be
compensated by Armenia.”

Sure, no one can forbid Baku to take up entertaining arithmetic. Seems
like Azerbaijan has forgotten all of its problems and is now busy
calculating damages which resulted from its faulty policies. Yet
there’s one thing Baku’s pseudo-mathematicians are forgetting about: if
it comes to calculating damages, it’s Armenia who’s got to issue bills
to Baku for ruined shrines, expulsion of Armenians from Azerbaijan,
and Nakhijevan, a historic Armenian land, in particular.

Armenian towns of Agulis and Jugha were fully demolished, destroyed
were 27000 Armenian churches and a mediaeval Armenian cemetery in Old
Jugha, with bulldozers having smashed khachkars. The “work group” must
surely be aware of the facts. As for Azeri historians, they continue
writing their own history of South Caucasus, generously supported by
the government to be turned into a tool of state policy. Azerbaijan’s
aggressive policy continues to devise new means for an information
war against Armenia, resorting to pseudo-historians’ assistance.

So who should pay one’s dues is another big question. To say nothing
of a half a million-strong Armenian community of Azerbaijan, robbed
and thrown out of their homes in the best case. Baku would be better
off to finally see a beam in its eye, instead of trying to see a speck
in another’s. And as for Nakhijevan blockade – there’s an interrupted
flow of petrol- and product-filled trucks bound for the autonomous
republic on the road from Iran.

Karine Ter-Sahakian/ PanARMENIAN.Net

US TO INCREASE FUNDING TO ARMENIA – NEWSPAPER

September 18, 2013 | 08:41

YEREVAN. – The United Stateswill increase financial assistance to
Armenia, and this assistance will be carried out by way of a variety
of programs, Zhamanak daily reports.

“We have learned that the US is determined to reinstate the Millennium
Challenge program this year. According to some information, the US
plans to start the second phase of the program by the year’s end.

“It was previously planned to fund up to $400-450 million in the case
of a second phase of the program. But, now, it has become apparent
that the US plans to make it reach up to half a billion dollars,”
Zhamanak writes.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

ARMENIAN OPPOSITION LEADER SAYS DIFFERENCES OVER CUSTOMS UNION DECISION WON’T AFFECT CONSOLIDATION EFFORT

POLITICS | 18.09.13 | 11:44

Photolure

By SIRANUYSH GEVORGYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

Opposition Heritage party leader Raffi Hovannisian, who has strongly
criticized the decision of the current political leadership to join
the Russia-led Customs Union, believes that the relatively milder
reaction to the development from other opposition politicians will
not harm the effort on consolidation in Armenia.

“Many have not expressed their position on this yet. I do not want to
forestall their final positions, but what I expect in the coming months
is not a one-vector or one-subject struggle. Before this decision,
which has transgressed the people’s view, we have a lot of issues
over which we can consolidate,” Hovannisian told ArmeniaNow.

He thinks that the Customs Union will restore the vertical relations
that once existed in the Soviet Union and that Armenia is joining
this union because of “the quality of its illegitimate authorities.”

The main opposition Armenian parties, except Heritage and Free
Democrats, have not explicitly pronounced against President Serzh
Sargsyan’s decision to join the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus
and Kazakhstan.

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF, Dashnaktsutyun), for
example, criticized the form in which the decision to join the Union
was made and presented to the public (without any public discussion or
consultations with political parties), but the ARF Executive Council
of Armenia representative, MP Armen Rustamyan said that the decision
is a matter of “Armenia’s existence” and that the situation is very
similar to the one that existed in 1918-20 when Armenia had to join
Bolshevik Russia in what later became the Soviet Union. “Our task is
to hand 42,000 square kilometers of territory over to our generations
to come,” said Rustamyan.

The opposition Armenian National Congress party also, in fact, stopped
short of criticizing the leadership for the decision itself. Moreover,
answering questions from ilur.am website readers, the party’s leader,
ex-president Levon Ter-Petrosyan expressed an opinion that Armenia’s
European integration has been an “adventure” on the part of Sargsyan.

And the Prosperous Armenia Party led by affluent businessman Gagik
Tsarukyan, which has positioned itself as an alternative to the current
government, said through its spokesman that it would present its
position when “Armenia has at least embarked on the path and traveled
some way” towards the Customs Union. At the same time, Tsarukyan said
that he does not want deterioration in Armenian-Russian relations.

Heritage’s Hovannisian, who is getting ready for another public
rally in Yerevan on Friday, believes that despite some differences
on the issue of the Customs Union they can still cooperate with
other political parties over “a thousand and one domestic issues”,
such as human rights, “the stolen elections”, etc.. Nevertheless,
he considers that a state of emergency has been created and that
Armenia’s joining the Customs Union endangers the nation’s statehood.

“Mr. Sargsyan must resign for the sake of Armenia,” said Hovannisian,
who, according to the official results of last February’s presidential
elections, finished second and for weeks disputed Sargsyan’s reelection
by means of street protests.

At the same time, the opposition leader emphasized that his being
against the Customs Union should not be construed as his being
anti-Russian. He said that he would equally oppose Armenia’s
Association Agreement with the European Union should it contain a
provision damaging Armenia’s sovereignty.

“We are against the restoration of the Soviet Union and are in favor of
Armenia’s statehood, and only if these two circumstances are respected
we will have a strategic relationship with Russia. But the West should
change its approach, too,” Hovannisian underscored.

CSTO LEADERS TO MEET IN SOCHI ON SEPTEMBER 23

15:56 17.09.2013

CSTO

Sochi will host the meeting of the Collective Security Council of
the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) on September 23,
Kremlin’s official website reports.

Participants plan to discuss further strengthening of allied
cooperation and improve the CSTO collective security system. They
will also review the implementation of decisions taken at the CSTO
Collective Security Council meeting in December 2012, and the informal
CSTO summit in Bishkek on May 28, 2013. State leaders will consider
ways to modernize command and control mechanisms of CSTO troops,
and the possibility of creating a CSTO air force.

Much attention will be paid to protecting member states’ borders,
particularly in the light of the 2014 withdrawal of foreign forces
from Afghanistan.

The priorities of Russia’s CSTO presidency will be presented during the
meeting (presidency will pass from Kyrgyzstan to Russia at that time).

CRITICAS DE LA COMUNIDAD ARMENIA POR AFIRMACIONES DEL EMBAJADOR DE TURQUIA

Clarín.com, Argentina
17 sept 2013

La comunidad armenia difundio un comunicado en el que personalidades
destacadas rechazaron comentarios realizados por el embajador de
Turquía en Argentina, Taner Karakas, en una carta de lectores que
envio a Clarín y fue publicada el viernes pasado.

En aquel texto, Karakas planteo su desacuerdo con un artículo que se
pudo leer en la version online del diario y que se titulaba “El otro
genocidio: el armenio”. En ese texto, se repasaba el padecimiento que
el Imperio Otomano causo a los armenios entre 1915 y 1923, a traves
de marchas forzadas y asesinatos que culminaron con la muerte de al
menos 1,5 millon de personas. El Estado turco nunca reconocio aquel
episodio como genocidio.

El viernes, en la carta de lectores, el embajador señalo: “Nosotros no
negamos el sufrimiento de los armenios, sino que nos oponemos a contar
únicamente con la narrativa nacional de Armenia y la presentacion de
los tragicos acontecimientos de 1915 como un genocidio perpetrado por
un lado contra el otro, en el cual no se tiene en cuenta las perdidas
turcas”. Señalo, tambien, que persisten controversias por el hecho
y que “es eticamente problematico e injusto, tanto para los turcos y
judíos, tratar de establecer una analogía entre el Holocausto y los
acontecimientos de 1915”.

Una de las voces que salieron al cruce fue la del prestigioso jurista
Leon Carlos Arslanian -integrante del tribunal que juzgo a los
jerarcas de la última dictadura militar argentina-, quien afirmo que
los dichos del embajador “tratan de desvirtuar la verdad historica”
y que “persiste en el negacionismo”. Por otra parte, aclaro que el
termino genocidio fue acuñado sobre la base de las matanzas perpetradas
por el Imperio Otomano en contra de los armenios, lo que resulto la
piedra basal de lo que luego fue la Convencion para la Prevencion y
Sancion del Delito de Genocidio (1948).

Para el profesor en asuntos internacionales de la Universidad Di
Tella Juan Gabriel Tokatlian, “la tergiversacion no puede ocultar un
hecho historico y facticamente comprobado por infinidad de fuentes
independientes”.

El vicepresidente de la Internacional Socialista y miembro del Consejo
Nacional Armenio Mundial, ingeniero Mario Nalpatian, indico que no
se debe ignorar “el reconocimiento del genocidio armenio de la ONU
en 1985, del Parlamento Europeo en 1987”, así como de otros organos
legislativos. Carolina Karagueuzian, del Consejo Nacional Armenio de
Buenos Aires, recordo que el Congreso argentino declaro el 24 de abril
como “Día de accion por la tolerancia y el respeto entre los pueblos”
en recuerdo del genocidio armenio.

En tanto, la compositora, musicologa y directora Alicia Terzian
ironizo al decir que fue como si Karakas le dijera que sus padres y
abuelos le mintieron.

ARMENIE : OUVERTURE D’UNE AMBASSADE PRES LE SAINT-SIEGE

Chretiente.info
Sept 17 2013

ZENIT , le 17 septembre 2013 a 20:51

Le ministre des Affaires etrangères au Vatican

Rome, 17 septembre 2013 (Zenit.org) Anne Kurian 0 clics

L’Armenie ouvre officiellement une ambassade près le Saint-Siège a
Rome, rapporte l’agence de presse ARKA ce 17 septembre 2013.

Dans le cadre d’un voyage en Pologne et en Italie (17-20 septembre),
Edouard Nalbandian, ministre armenien des Affaires etrangères,
assistera a la ceremonie de l’ouverture de l’Ambassade armenienne au
Vatican, le 19 septembre.

Il rencontrera egalement Mgr Dominique Mamberti, secretaire du
Saint-Siège pour les relations avec les Etats.

D’après des chiffres de l’Aide a l’Eglise en detresse, l’Armenie est
un pays a majorite chretienne (84,9%) dont 7,6% de catholiques et
75,8% d’orthodoxes.

Meme s’ils ont des ambassadeurs près le Saint-Siège, tous les pays
n’ouvrent pas d’ambassade speciale près le Saint-Siège: un ambassadeur
a Paris ou Genève peut assumer ce rôle. C’est donc un signe d’interet
special qui fait ouvrir une ambassade a Rome près le Saint-Siège.

L’Armenie a aussi un nouvel ambassadeur près le Saint-Siège depuis
juin dernier: un jeune ambassadeur de 35 ans (il est ne en octobre
1977), M. Mikayel Minasyan.

Le pape Francois l’a recu au Vatican, a l’occasion de la presentation
de ses lettres de creance. Outre sa langue maternelle, il parle
francais et trois autres langues.

Le Vatican accorde une importance particulière aux chretiens d’Armenie
et de la diaspora. Des gestes ont ponctue le pontificat de Jean-Paul
II comme, notamment, des celebrations en rite armenien du Vatican,
des visites mutuelles, le don d’une relique de Saint-Gregoire
l’Illimunateur, l’arrivee d’une statue de ce grand saint au Vatican,
le voyage de Jean-Paul II lui-meme, en fevrier 2001.

Il y a aussi la question du genocide armenien. En recevant le
patriarche de Cilicie des Armeniens, Nersès Bedros XIX Tarmouni,
au Vatican, le 3 juin 2013, le pape Francois a lui-meme qualifie le
genocide armenien de ” premier genocide du XXe s. “.

Le patriarche etait accompagne par une delegation d’Armeniens, dont
la fille d’une famille ayant survecu au genocide, le ” Medz Yeghern “,
” le grand mal “, perpetre en 1915 par la Turquie de l’epoque.

Le pape a ecoute la femme, et il a declare : ” Le premier genocide
du XXe siècle a ete celui des Armeniens “. Des paroles très fermes,
alors que le genocide du peuple armenien n’est pas reconnu par toutes
les Nations, et pas encore par la Turquie d’aujourd’hui.

Le Parlement francais a reconnu quant a lui le genocide le 29 janvier
2001 en adoptant une loi a article unique : ” La France reconnaît
publiquement le genocide armenien de 1915. ”

En tout, ce genocide a ete reconnu officiellement par 21 Etats,
ainsi que par des organisations internationales comme la Commission
ONU pour les crimes de guerre, le Parlement europeen et le Conseil
~cumenique des Eglises

DINK RETRIAL STARTS WITH DECISION TO ARREST DEFENDANT ERHAN TUNCEL

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Sept 17 2013

17 September 2013 /YONCA POYRAZ DOÄ~^AN, Ä°STANBUL

A local court has ordered the arrest of Erhan Tuncel — previously
acquitted of all charges related to the 2007 killing of Hrant Dink,
the late editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos — in
the retrial of the Dink murder case amidst repeated chants calling for
justice by Hrant’s Friends outside the biggest courthouse in Ä°stanbul
on Tuesday and a decision by Dink’s family not to take part anymore
in the “games played by state mechanisms.”

The Ä°stanbul 14th High Criminal Court began a review of the trial
after the Supreme Court of Appeals overturned in May the Ä°stanbul
court’s ruling of Jan. 17, 2012, in which it dismissed the involvement
of an organized criminal network in the murder.

Tuncel, who worked as an informant for the Trabzon Police Department,
was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in the 2004 bombing
of a McDonald’s restaurant in the Black Sea town of Trabzon but
was acquitted of all charges regarding the Dink murder, including
prosecutors’ claims in the first trial that he was the one who ordered
Yasin Hayal, the man who was given a life sentence for soliciting
Dink’s shooter, to murder him.

Hakan Bakırcıoglu, one of the lawyers representing the Dink family
in the case, said that the Supreme Court of Appeals’ 9th Criminal
Chamber had indicated in its May decision that Tuncel may have played
a crucial role in the murder of Dink, so he was expected at the court
as a defendant on Tuesday.

“We expected the Ä°stanbul court to issue this arrest warrant because
of the high court’s decision,” he told Today’s Zaman.

Tuncel’s lawyer, Erdogan Soruklu, presented a doctor’s report to the
court Tuncel was not able to appear due to an illness, but the lawyer
said Tuncel will be present at the next hearing.

Soruklu said that the high court’s overturning of the local court’s
decision was incorrect and given under pressure; therefore, it was
against the citizenship and human rights of Tuncel.

“Tuncel was stigmatized as ‘big brother’ in public, and the appeals
process was influenced,” he said, insisting that Tuncel is not guilty
of the crime as the local court first ruled for his acquittal.

The only defendants present at the first hearing were Hayal and
Salih Hacısalihoglu.

Asked by Judge Mustafa BaÅ~_er to present his views regarding the
high court’s decision, Hayal said he is not guilty of killing Dink
but Tuncel is. Hayal referred to written confessions from a former
gendarmerie intelligence officer, known as M.A., previously presented
to the court in which the officer admits he was going to kill Dink
with Tuncel.

“I have not established or run a criminal organization. I don’t
know why I am being linked to an alleged criminal organization,”
Hayal told the court.

Hayal and Tuncel, along with all other defendants, were cleared
of charges of membership in a terrorist organization in the local
court’s ruling.

Dink was shot and killed in broad daylight on Jan. 19, 2007, by an
ultranationalist teenager outside the offices of his newspaper in
Ä°stanbul. Evidence discovered since then has led to claims that the
murder was linked to the “deep state,” a term used in reference to
a shady group of military and civilian bureaucrats believed to have
links to criminal elements.

Bahri Belen, one of the lawyers for the Dink family, spoke in court
in reference to the organized, deep-state criminal network, but Judge
BaÅ~_er warned him, saying that the high court limited the scope of
the involvement of a criminal network to only a few people.

The lawyers representing the Dink family fear the new trial process
will stay within these limits drawn by the high court.

Fethiye Cetin, the chief lawyer on the case, said last week at a
press conference that the new process is most likely to put the case
at a worse standpoint than before because the initial trial had been
launched on the premise of a terrorist organization, but the high
court decision says it is an armed organization formed to commit a
specific crime.

Belen emphasized this point in court, indicating that the high court’s
decision has been wrongly interpreted as a positive turning point
for their case.

“We don’t think that this criminal network is a small one, like the
high court does,” he said. “The Supreme Court of Appeals is wrong,
but it is still important that it overturned the ruling of the
local court.”

Cetin explained that according to the decision of the high court,
the criminal organization involved was established in 2004 by Hayal
with political motivations and consisted of only a few other people,
including Tuncel, who were ultranationalists angry with Dink for
“insulting Turkishness,” as he had been charged with, so they wanted
to punish him.

She also noted that Dink was not even sentenced in 2004 for that
crime attributed to him.

Earlier this month, Cetin published a book titled “Utanc Duyuyorum:
Hrant Dink Cinayetinin Yargısı” (“I Feel Ashamed: The Judgment of
the Hrant Dink Murder”), explaining that the high court had defined
the motivations of the organization as being “political” rather than
“terrorist” in its verdict that led to the review of the case.

Dink’s lawyers had submitted a petition to the Supreme Court of
Appeals, arguing that the lower court’s ruling violated the Turkish
Penal Code (TCK) by acknowledging the existence of a criminal
organization but declining to investigate it and that the court
ignored the evidence of the involvement of a terrorist organization.

Meanwhile, a written statement sent to press by the Dink family on
Tuesday said the family will no longer attend the hearings to avoid
being part of the “games played by state mechanisms.”

Cetin read some parts of that statement at the hearing, indicating
that it should be in the court records because the family’s decision
is directly related to the review of the case.

“I have spoken with my clients; they are the late Hrant Dink’s family
and close friends. They do not want to come to hearings anymore because
they do not want to watch this game anymore. They also said that this
case does not belong only to their family but to others who would like
to see a transparent state and peace, so for that reason they would
like us, the lawyers, to follow the case closely on their behalf,”
she said.

The family’s statement made headlines today in some Turkish newspapers
because some members of the Dink family regularly attended the hearings
of the first trial and their decision represents a turning point that
they have lost faith in the justice system.

Part of the statement by the Dink family, dated Sept. 16, reads: “In
order not to become dirtier, we will not step into those courthouses
where lies are so easily said, force so easily used, and rightfulness,
truth, rights and justice so easily stepped on. … Since the day
Hrant Dink was slain on Jan. 19, 2007, the system in Turkey, with
its judiciary, police, military, civilian bureaucracy and political
institutions, have made fun of us. … On the other hand, opposition
parties, with their attitude toward Article 301 and support for
ultranationalist feelings and breeding hitmen, were the main actors
in the climate of murder. … We will be where we are and where are
supposed be: on the side of those who were killed by the sticks of
the state.”

The next hearing of the case will be on Dec. 3.

GERARD CAFESJIAN, PHILANTHROPIST AND COMO CAROUSEL NAMESAKE, DIES AT 88

Pioneer Press
Sept 17 2013

By Elizabeth Mohr

Gerard Leon Cafesjian, the benefactor who helped save the famed Como
Park carousel, has passed away, according to Armenian news reports.

Cafesjian amassed his wealth as an executive at West Publishing,
where he worked from 1952 until 1996. His philanthropic pursuits went
well beyond the salvage and restoration of the Cafesjian Carousel,
as it’s now known. He also founded the Cafesjian Family Foundation,
the Cafesjian Museum Foundation and the Cafesjian Center for the Arts.

Cafesjian, 88, formerly of Roseville, had retired and was living in
Naples, Fla.

Messages for family members were not immediately returned Tuesday.

Cafesjian’s attorney said he was not authorized to speak on behalf of
the family. And a woman who answered the phone at the Cafesjian Family
Foundation said no one there was taking media calls at that time.

Several Armenian news outlets were reporting Cafesjian’s death
Tuesday. Some said Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan had issued a
message of condolence to Cafesjian’s family.

Cafesjian was born in 1925 in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Armenian parents who
immigrated to the United States in 1915, according to a biography on
the Cafesjian Center for the Arts website. He served in the U.S. Navy
during World War II and later earned a degree in economics from Hunter
College and a law degree from St. John’s University Law School. He
began working for West Publishing in New York City and was later
transferred to the St. Paul office.

In 1988 Cafesjian led an effort to save a 1914 merry-go-round that had
spun at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds for 75 years. He and others
contributed more than $2 million to save the 68-horse carousel from
being broken apart and auctioned off.

The Cafesjian Carousel, which was named in honor of its major
benefactor, was restored and initially installed in Town Square in
downtown St. Paul.

“I knew it was worth saving and had to be saved,” Cafesjian told the
Pioneer Press in 1990, just days before the refurbished carousel
was set to make its public debut. “We can all be proud of the way
everybody got behind it.”

When the carousel was unveiled, Cafesjian reportedly bought 100
tickets to give away to children who wanted to ride it and sat on a
park bench to observe the event.

“I can’t think of getting more pleasure per dollar than what I’ve
gotten already,” Cafesjian told reporters at the time.

The carousel was moved to storage in 1996 and found its permanent
home in Como Park in 2000.

Through his philanthropic organizations, Cafesjian sought to bring
economic relief and artistic venues to Armenia, and to promote Armenian
art and history to the rest of the world.

He was most recently mentioned in local news in August when one of his
former employees was indicted on federal fraud charges for allegedly
embezzling millions of dollars from Cafesjian and his companies.

Cafesjian’s wife, Cleo, died in March. The couple met during WWII and
were married in July 1947. At the time of Cleo’s death, they had two
adult children, one granddaughter and three great-grandchildren.

KARABAKH AND COUP

Naira Hayrumyan
Comments – Tuesday, 17 September 2013, 20:55

Armenia is trying to figure out the economic and political benefits
that its membership to the Customs Union may bring about, understanding
that benefits are ruled out initially. People wonder what pushes us
into that union. Zbigniew Brzezinski described it precisely. He said
that Russia is merely trying to subject the post-Soviet states which
are still independent. The next, according to Brzezinski, will be
Ukraine which depends on Russia more than Armenia.

However, it is not ruled out that Azerbaijan will be the next which
helped Russia to bend Armenia towards the Customs Union. The Russian
analytical press hints that Azerbaijan may suffer considerably in
case it wants to join the Customs Union. Russia does not need Armenia
without Azerbaijan, these two countries always go together for Moscow.

And now, having achieved Armenia’s consent, Russia will move on to
Baku with similar arguments as for Yerevan – a coup in Karabakh –
in the same order. Russia continues to sell arms to Azerbaijan even
after Serzh Sargsyan’s agreement. Moscow did not turn its back
to Baku, on the contrary, activated its efforts. In addition, a
presidential election will be held in Azerbaijan in October, and the
Azerbaijani mass media are predicting a coup. The threat of coup is,
most probably, Putin’s key argument vis-a-vis Serzh Sargsyan. All
through the summer the political forces yelled about the failure of
the economic policy and that the Association with the EU would give
away Karabakh. Moreover, the parties declared rallies and vote of no
confidence for this fall. All through the summer Armenia was shaking
with protests, scandals, leakages. The skeleton of civic activists were
able to stay “clean” though even they said that someone is provoking
clashes and unrest. Notably, after the statement to join the Customs
Union activism declined considerably. In this regard, it took a hint
that those processes were coordinated to convey to Serzh Sargsyan
that change of government was quite realistic, as well as equally
realistic for Ilham Aliyev. A similar situation characterizes the
Karabakh issue. Not having announced about its intentions, Russia
retains its levers of influence on Armenia and Azerbaijan. A single
step by Aliyev may be followed by the recognition of NKR by Russia,
while Serzh Sargsyan’s ruses may lead to a “small war” in Karabakh.

The European Parliament has adopted a special resolution on pressure
exerted by Russia on the post-Soviet states and committed to coming
forth with measures to support these countries. What measures can
Europe come forth with?

RUBEN VARDANYAN: I AM HAPPY THAT OUR DREAM CAME TRUE

20:09 17/09/2013 ” Society

“Our plan and project came true. It was implemented on a high level. I
am satisfied,” told architect Artak Ghulyan Panorama.am adding that
regardless all the difficulties they had come across with during the
implementation of the project the church was constructed.

According to the architect though the construction lasted for years
changes have been made in design and decoration even yesterday.

“I tell everyone that there are two main issues that I have put on
the table; I wanted to introduce the Armenian architecture out of
the borders of Armenia and to make it so that it corresponds the
architecture of the city it is built in. I think the church will
be considered within these two aspects,” the architect notes. The
construction of the church was implemented due to Armenian
philanthropists, Ruben Vardanyan, the CIB co-chair among them.

“I am happy that our dream came true at last,” Ruben Vardanyan said
at the briefing with the journalists.

According to Ruben Vardabyan the fact that the church is big is
really good, but the best thing here is that the people will have the
opportunity to come together and to communicate to each other inside
the church.

“I also like the fact that our children will have the opportunity
to get acquainted to the Armenian traditions and values here,” the
speaker added.

President Serzh Sargsyan and Mrs. Rita Sargsyan, together with the
president of Nagorno-Karabakh Bako Sahakyan attended the ceremony of
consecration of the Armenian Cathedral in Moscow and opening of the
Church compound. The ceremony of consecration of the Cathedral was
conducted by His Holiness Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II.