Author: Kalantarian Kevo

ARMENIAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY HONORS SHERIFF LEE BACA

12:14 15.07.2013

Members of the Armenian Council of America (ACA), civic leaders and
guests gathered at the Armenian Educational Benevolent Union center
(A.E.B.U.) in Pasadena to welcome long-time friend and advocate of
the Armenian-American community, Los Angeles County Sheriff Leroy
“Lee” Baca.

ACA Executive Board Member and Master of Ceremonies Sevak
Khatchadorian, provided a brief introduction on the event’s highlights
and spoke about the important political and advocacy work that the
ACA has undertaken since its inception in the United States and abroad.

Tateos “Ted” Koroghlian, Chairman of the Pasadena Chapter of the
ACA welcomed Sheriff Baca to the stage as he discussed the Sheriff’s
long-standing bond with the Armenian-American community, sharing his
personal experience with the Sheriff and detailing his relentless
efforts to continuously improving the quality of life for all LA
County residents.

Sheriff Baca thanked all those involved in coordinating the successful
event and recognized the organization’s leaders and members for
their hard work and dedication to the Social Democrat Hunchakian
Party (S.D.H.P), ACA and all its affiliate athletic, educational,
political and cultural organizations.

Reiterating his stance towards recognition of the Armenian Genocide by
the Turkish government as a historical fact, Sheriff Baca expressed
the unique position he is in. Having a working relationship with
Turkish government officials as the Sheriff of the largest county in
the nation, with the highest concentration of residents of Armenian
descent, creates an opportunity for the Sheriff to serve as an
unofficial liaison between the Armenian community and Ankara, providing
a vehicle to voice our concerns and issues via non-traditional channels
not utilized by Armenian-American activists in the past.

Sheriff Baca applauded the hard work of the Armenian-American
community, particularly in the LA County, suggesting they are
the strongest, most vocal and most organized advocates of the
Armenian Cause. Sheriff Baca ended his speech by encouraging young
Armenian-Americans to join the LA County Sheriff’s department and
to serve their community in the areas of law enforcement and civic
leadership.

“It was a great honor to introduce Sheriff Baca to our membership
tonight and we were delighted to have him at our center,” said
Koroghlian. “His love for the Armenian culture and his interest in
Armenian-related issues is highly admirable and as Armenian-Americans,
we are fortunate to have such an important elected official as both a
friend and a colleague. The event was a wonderful opportunity for us
to exchange ideas, as well as discuss important issues that affect the
lives of all those who reside in the County of LA,” Koroghlian added.

As a four-term Sheriff and Los Angeles native, Baca grew up having
close ties to the once vibrant Armenian-American community of East Los
Angeles. Although he is of Mexican-American origin, his love for the
Armenian culture, traditions and values prompted him to marry his wife
in an Armenian church over a decade ago. He has travelled to Armenia
on several official visits to meet leaders of the Armenian government
to discuss issues of concern of the Armenian Diaspora. He is running
for re-election in 2014 to serve his fifth term as Sheriff. He was
recently awarded the 2013 Ferris E. Lucas Award for Sheriff of the
Year by the National Sheriff’s Association.

The Armenian Council of America is dedicated to educating the
Armenian-American community in local political affairs, as well as
actively pursuing Armenian-American participation in their respective
local governments, to support political candidates who share the
values of the Armenian American community.

Trend, Azerbaijan
July 13 2013

Foreign ministry: Armenia’s claims on Turkish lands contradict UN and
OSCE principles

Azerbaijan, Baku, July 13 / Trend A. Taghiyeva /

Armenia’s claims on Turkish lands contradict the principles of such
international organizations as the UN and the OSCE. Yerevan is a
member of these organizations, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said
today.

During the Pan-Armenian Forum of Lawyers in Yerevan on July 5,
Armenian Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan said that Armenia must
return its lost territories from Turkey.

According to the Turkish Foreign Ministry, an Armenian government
official’s statement is rather frivolous.

“Everybody must understand that no one has the right to demand lands
from Turkey,” a statement said.

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
July 13 2013

We are good, neighbors aren’t

MURAT YETKÄ°N

Bashar al-Assad, who should have left his place to his deputy Faruk
al-Shara as Syrian president almost a year ago according to the
expectations of Ankara, convened the Baath Party executive committee
on July 9 and fired almost all other members, including al-Shara.

This was an interesting move. His hand against the Muslim Brotherhood,
or `Ikhwan-i Muslimin’ opposition, with which he has been in a civil
war for more than two years now, has been strengthened by two major
developments over the last few weeks. First, there was the in-house
coup in Qatar where the former prime minister, a main supporter of the
Ikhwan in Syria, was removed from office by the emir, who stepped down
at the same time on June 25. Second, the Egyptian army took down the
elected president Mohamed Morsi, a prominent member of the Ikhwan
movement, on July 3. One may speculate that al-Assad had acted as if
he thought there was a secret consensus between the U.S. and Russia to
get rid of his current Syrian regime but not leave it to the hands of
Ikhwan before the Second Geneva talks, which will hopefully take place
in the autumn. Al-Assad’s explanation for his move was different. He
said that all those aides had misled him into mistakes; in a way, he
was saying that he was good, but his inner circle was not.

Those words reminded the Turkish people of an excuse cliché used for
those high up when corruption allegations are widespread: He (or she)
is good, but the close circuit is not.

Turkish foreign policy experienced two of its high points when
President Abdullah Gül started diplomacy with Armenia in 2008, and
when then-new Foreign Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu started open diplomacy
with Iraqi Kurds by visiting Arbil in 2009. Then proud of Ankara’s
`zero problems with neighbors’ policy, DavutoÄ?lu was underlining that
only Turkey was able to talk to all political actors – official or
unofficial – in its region, from fighting factions in Iraq to Hamas,
from Iran to Israel.

Now, following the overthrow in Egypt, Ankara is not happy, mainly for
two reasons. One of them is because of the coup against the elected
president. Secondly, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK
Parti) has developed very special relations with the Ikhwan movement,
especially after it started to adopt a more legalistic, political
approach. This is the case not only in Egypt; AK Parti advisors also
helped the Ä°khwanist election campaigns in Tunisia and Egypt. The main
opposition group in Syria against al-Assad are the Ikhwanists, while
Hamas in the Gaza Strip of Palestine also have close links with
Ikhwan.

Ankara has not been talking to Israel since the Mavi Marmara tragedy
in 2010 anyway. Plus, the polarization in the region since the Syrian
civil war started in 2011 has affected Ankara’s links with Iran,
Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Shiite majority in Iraq.

Over the last few weeks Ankara’s relations with its western allies,
the U.S. and the European Union, have been going though a test as
well. This is not only over Middle Eastern issues, but also over
rights and freedoms regarding the anti-government demonstrations in
Turkey and over the coup in Egypt.

DavutoÄ?lu had convened some of his ambassadors in key countries, the
intelligence organization MÄ°T, and the prime minister’s foreign
relations staff, as the ideological dynamo of the policy. He clearly
needs a fine tuning for Turkish foreign policy following the trauma of
Egypt. To repeat, `we are good, neighbors aren’t’ as an answer to
explain the stumbles in the `zero problems with neighbors’ policy is
no longer convincing.
July/13/2013

Los Angeles Daily News, CA
July 13 2013

Encino parents allege ‘land grab’ in firehouse lease to Armenian group

By Dana Bartholomew

Parents and principals at Encino Charter Elementary school had long
hoped to obtain an abandoned former firehouse next door to add an
indoor gym and lunchroom and solve a dire parking shortage and
dangerous student drop-off lane.

Only supporters were shocked to read a news report last spring that
Los Angeles had agreed to lease its old Fire Station 83 for use as an
Armenian cultural center. The price: $1 a year for half a century.

“It’s basically a land grab,” said Lisa Becker, a parent and board
member of the Parent Teacher Organization at the LAUSD affiliated
charter school. “How the city can justify giving them that property
for $1 is beyond me.

“A child’s safety should never be trumped by politics.”

Since the city agreed to lease its vacant firehouse to the Armenian
Cultural Foundation in May, a rising tide of residents and San
Fernando Valley neighborhood groups have united against a deal they
say was hatched in a back room without community input.

A petition to block the lease, Becker said, has raised more than 600
signatures. Meanwhile, tempers have reportedly flared between ethnic
Armenian supporters of the deal and opponents at a recent neighborhood
council meeting.

City officials, in turn, defend a deal they say is not yet a done.
Their motion, launched by Councilman Paul Koretz and supported by
then-Councilmen Eric Garcetti and Councilman Paul Krekorian backed by
a unanimous vote by the City Council, had seemed simple enough.

The 65-year-old former fire station at 5001 Balboa Blvd. had been
vacant seven years, drawing vagrants and graffiti and falling prey to
vandalism, copper wire theft and garbage dumps.

The surplus city property was offered to other city agencies as
required by law, city officials said, but had no takers despite
nibbles by the fire and parks departments, with the latter once vowing
to hold a community meeting.

Encino elementary school officials say they had urged the Los Angeles
Unified School District to buy the land, but it only offered to lease
the parking lot, city officials say.

Despite offers from developers hoping to turn old Fire Station 83 into
condos, city officials hoped to convert it to “community use,” such as
a partnership lease to a nonprofit.

The nonprofit Armenian Cultural Foundation had offered to sink at
least $1 million into fixing up the 5,150 square-foot firehouse for
cultural events and activities geared from students to seniors. In
return, the city would could banish the Balboa Boulevard blight while
getting free building improvements and decades of free services for
the community.

“There was an organization that, in good faith, made a proposal when
no other organization came forward “¦ with a community center proposal
that seemed promising,” said Paul Michael Neuman, spokesman for
Koretz, whose district encompasses the station.

Backlash to the proposal was swift. Neighborhood critics cried foul,
saying the cultural center proposal was never discussed with hundreds
of nearby residents, homeowner groups or an Encino Neighborhood
Council charged with advising the city on land-use plans.

The exception was Talar Dardarian, the Armenian chair of the
neighborhood council land-use and planning committee. She had urged
Koretz in a letter to approve the firehouse deal — but failed to
bring it to the attention of her committee.

Dardarian explained she was ill, and could not respond to a request
for comment. The Armenian Cultural Foundation did not return a call.

“We were very unhappy to see the back-room deal, where this valuable
property was leased to a nonprofit group without any public exposure,
input, or comment,” said Gerald A. Silver, president of Homeowners of
Encino. “It smacks of insider trading.”

The Encino Neighborhood Council also passed a motion after the city
vote saying it disapproved of “manner, circumstances and terms of the
lease,” while recommending the city consider other options for its
former fire station.

At issue, critics say, is a cultural center that could draw traffic
into an Encino neighborhood slated to soon grow by 100 condos. More
important, they say, are the needs of 97-year-old Encino Charter
Elementary School that occupies much of the block behind the
firehouse.

During late summer months, students must eat outside or play on
sweltering blacktop, officials say. Throughout the school year,
parking is a nightmare for 60 teachers and staff vying for 22 spots.
Worse, parents must drop their 575 children off in a public street in
a makeshift zone along the school, where they compete with commuters
scrambling to get to work.

The firehouse property would create a safe drop-off and pickup zone,
Becker added, while providing a badly needed multipurpose room. “They
could build their cultural center anywhere,” she said. “We can’t” move
a school.

Community pressure may have caused the city to reconsider its plans.
The motion, which passed May 10, directed the city to negotiate a
lease with the Armenian Cultural Foundation within 60 days. To date,
city officials say, no offer has been forthcoming, no lease drawn up,
nothing signed.

It now appears Los Angeles may be considering ways to split its baby
— to encourage a joint-use between the cultural center and the
school. Neuman said Koretz office is planning a site tour soon between
officials from the school, cultural center and residents.

Xinhua General News Service, China
July 12, 2013 Friday 8:25 AM EST

Armenia’s drug production, exports rise in first five months

YEREVAN July 12

The first five months of this year saw Armenia’s medicine production
and exports rise by 29.3 percent and 41.8 percent respectively, an
official said Friday.

Haik Mirzoyan, director of the Industry Development Foundation,
announced the numbers at a press conference that was also attended by
representatives from the country’s pharmaceutical companies.

Mirzoyan further elaborated that during these five months, some 1.9
billion AMD (4.6 million U.S. dollars) worth of drugs were produced
and about half of them were exported.

The biggest share of exports went to Commonwealth of Independent
States countries, he added.

Fars News Agency, Iran
July 13 2013

Iranian Envoy: Minsk Group Not Interested in Settling Karabakh Dispute

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Ambassador to Baku Mohsen Pakayeen blasted the
OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) Minsk group
which allegedly spearheads efforts in settling the territorial dispute
between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region for
its inaction in resolving the issue.

“The members of the Minsk Group which are a number of trans-regional
states are not interested in settling the dispute and they see no
interests in solving it,” Pakayeen said on Saturday.

“The Minsk Group has not yet made any move and has only held some
meetings whose results were clear even before holding them,” he added.

Pakayeen underlined that the settlement of the dispute is merely
possible through the participation of the regional states.

Armenia and Azerbaijan remain officially at war over Karabakh and the
dispute is a major source of tension in the South Caucasus region
wedged between Iran, Russia and Turkey.

No country – not even Armenia – officially recognizes Karabakh as an
independent state.

The rebel region has been controlled by ethnic Armenians since it
broke free of Baku’s control after a fierce war in the early 1990s
that killed 30,000 people.

In November 2010, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad voiced
Tehran’s readiness to help resolve the territorial dispute between
Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

“We believe that the Karabakh issue will be resolved through dialogue
and the commitment of both sides to justice, and Tehran is ready to
negotiate with them within this framework,” Ahmadinejad said in a
joint press conference with his Azeri counterpart at the time.

EurasiaNet.org: Unlike Armenia Karabakh war veterans are not respected
in Azerbaijan

00:27 14/07/2013 » SOCIETY

Some veterans of Karabakh war receive financial support, free medical
treatment, cars, apartments and government praise in Azerbaijan.
That’s because president Aliyev himself did not serve in the war.
Apart from Defense Minister Safar Abiyev, no veteran sits in
Azerbaijan’s cabinet of ministers, the EurasiaNet says in an article.

As the article reads, the cash-rich Azerbaijan appears policy-poor
when it comes to the thousands of veterans who fought in its 1988-1994
conflict over the breakaway region of Nagorno Karabakh. Some veterans
receive financial support, free medical treatment, cars, apartments
and government praise. Other veterans, though, claim that they receive
nothing. The government, for its part, remains mostly silent. The
Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, which handles veteran policy,
declined to speak with EurasiaNet.org about provisions for Karabakh
veterans.

That silence, in part, reflects Azerbaijani society’s own ambivalence
toward the 11,500 registered veterans of the Karabakh war, a conflict
that ended disastrously for Azerbaijan.

`Unlike veterans in Armenia, Azerbaijani veterans do not command
political influence or hold a particularly revered status,’ charged
Karabakh veteran Azad Isazade, director of the Institute for
Military-Strategic Research said.

`Some people, of course, show respect,’ said Isazade. `But there are
also those who say `Did you need [to go to war] ? Didn’t you know that
the politicians had sold Karabakh [to Armenia]?” he says.

Reserve Army Colonel Uzeir Jafarov agreed, `The treatment is more
indifferent than respectful.’

The authors of the article note that for unclear reasons, the
government last May scrapped monthly pension payments to all but
disabled veterans. Those veterans still receive a monthly pension of
between 140 to 273 manats (roughly $178.48 to $348.
`That lack of a systematic policy means that benefits are distributed
selectively, which creates inequality, favoritism and, likely, an
element of corruption,’ Isazade said.

The Union’s deputy chairperson, Reserve Col. Jafarov, charged that the
overall approach to veteran benefits is `wrong’ and entirely
`politicized.’ While `veteran organizations which praise the
government’ receive benefits ranging from free houses to free cars,
`those who are critical of the government, including myself, receive
nothing,’ he claimed.

One 38-eight-year-old veteran, who gave his name as Yusif, claims that
a designated medical facility in Baku has denied him free medical
treatment. Problems with the affirmative-action program for government
jobs also persist. Disabled veteran Fakhraddin Safarov, a teacher by
background and a board member of the hard-line Karabakh Liberation
Organization, alleged that the Ministry of Education had accepted none
of his job applications since his army discharge in 1994.

According to the article not all veterans of the Karabakh war carry
identity cards. Some, citing alleged bureaucratic hassles or demands
for bribes, say that they never registered.

According to Isazade high-ranking officials do not understand
veterans’ problems because they don’t know what it is to be a veteran
`President Aliyev himself did not serve in the war. Apart from Defense
Minister Safar Abiyev, no veteran sits in Azerbaijan’s cabinet of
ministers, and few exist among deputy ministers and other senior
officials. The 125-member parliament contains only one veteran,’ the
article said.

Source: Panorama.am

Armenian cemetery tombstones found in Taksim Square presented to public

16:29, 13 July, 2013

YEREVAN, JULY 13, ARMENPRESS: The electronic version of the Armenian
Agos Periodical, functioning in Istanbul, has published the Armenian
inscriptions made on the Armenian cemetery tombstones found in the
Taksim Square during the construction works. As reported by
Armenpress, the tombstones date to the 17-19cc. The inscriptions are
as follows:

Nikoghos, son of Martiros

Grigor, son of Yeghiazar

Dikesh Harutyun, son of Karapet, 1775

On return from St. Jerusalem the wife of Ghazanchyan Haji Tateos

Agha, Haji Ann, reached the God: May 23 1859

John Mikayeloghlu, son of Andiresli

Moses, son of Nerses from Areveni Village, 1760

Manuk, son of Simavon from Chomakh Village 1761

Tombstone numbered 7211: Barber Khachatur, son of Aslan 1850

The tombstones are currently at the Istanbul Archeological Museum, the
authorities of which are studying the stones. `The inscription on one
of the tombstones is cleared and unreadable. The other two are without
inscriptions. On five tombstones it is possible to read only the
dates. Eight of the tombstones are with tracery and five of them –
without’, – it was found out at the Museum after the study. 13
tombstones are made of marble.

The disorders in Turkey began when on May 28 2013 the plans of
replacing Taksim Gezi Park with a reconstruction of the historic
Taksim Military Barracks (demolished in 1940) with the possibility of
housing a shopping mall became known. The protests developed into
riots when a group occupying the park was attacked by police. The
subjects of the protests have since broadened beyond the development
of Taksim Gezi Park, developing into wider anti-government
demonstrations. The protests have also spread to other cities in
Turkey, and protests have been seen in other countries with
significant Turkish communities. On May 31 2013, police suppressed the
protesters with tear gas, arrested at least 60 people and injured
hundreds. The police action received wide attention online. 5 men died
in the clashes between the police and the protesters, more than 7,500
people were injured and about 5,000 of people were arrested. By the
data provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkey, about 2,5
million people from 79 regions took part in the anti-government
demonstrations held in Turkey.

The Turkish authorities were appealed by the White House, the UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the EU foreign policy commissioner
Catherine Ashton, the US Vice President Joe Biden and the President of
the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to settle the issue via a
dialogue.

Armenia and Georgia Discussed Improvement of Their Customs Services

The activities of the project of Modernization of Bagratashen, Bavra,
Gogavan Border Crossing Points of the Republic of Armenia implemented
by the United Nations Development Programme have already started. To
improve the quality of services of the Armenian-Georgian border
crossing points the delegation of the Revenue Service adjunct to the
Georgian Ministry of Finance headed by Vladimir Khundadzeh, head of
the Georgian Revenue Service, visited Armenia on July 12-13.

During the meeting with the leadership of the State Revenue Committee
exchange of experience and communication, as well as issues relating
to the improvement of the Bagratashen-Sadakhlo, Airum-Sadakhlo,
Gogavan-Guguti and Bavra Ninotsminda were discussed. The head of the
SRC proposed to introduce joint software to exchange electronic
declarations, as well as activate queries between the counterparts to
boost fight against smuggling on the Armenian-Georgian border.
Agreement was reached to set up working groups and draft the timeline
of activities, the SRC informs.

The head of the Georgian Revenue Service Vladimir Khundadzeh expressed
readiness to activate cooperation. Given the intergovernmental
agreement on joint management of border crossing points signed last
year, double check at the border will be replaced by one check.

It will help simplify procedures, cut costs and save time, and of
course, ensure convenience. What used to take ten minutes will now
take five minutes, the SRC informs. The customs services of the two
countries will exchange information online. Vladimir Khundadzeh
informed that a lot of work has been done at Bagratashen-Sadakhlo and
Bavra Ninotsminda. Works in the first border crossing point have been
completed, the second will be ready in the first quarter of 2014.

16:20 13/07/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:

Armenia has great prospects for development of large greenhouses

July 13, 2013 | 15:55

YEREVAN. – According to expert research, the surface area of Armenia’s
greenhouses has increased by 91 hectares, over the course of the past
ten years, and reached 130 hectares.

A total of 900 greenhouses function in these areas, and the
overwhelming majority of them are small greenhouses.

But the research results show that the technological equipment level
of these small greenhouses is quite low.

Overall, the low productivity and efficiency of small greenhouses
prevent greenhouse development in Armenia. According to expert
forecasts, the prospect for the development of small greenhouses is
not great for the next five years.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am