Author: Kalantarian Kevo

AZERI PRESIDENT CITES LACK OF MULTICULTURALISM AS FACTOR IN KARABAKH CONFLICT

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
May 31 2013

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has stated that multiculturalism
is quite critical for all nations around the world, especially for
Azerbaijanis who have suffered from ethnic cleansing in the region
for decades.

“It is because of problems related to multiculturalism that
Azerbaijani territories are under occupation [by neighboring country
Armenia]. A practice of ethnic cleansing has been carried out on our
nation for more than 20 years. Azerbaijanis have been driven out of
their own territories, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent
territories. The religious sites and historic heritage of Azerbaijanis
have been destroyed. Reports by the Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe’s [OSCE] fact finding mission confirms that all
monuments and infrastructure in occupied Azerbaijani territories were
destroyed by Armenian armed forces,” Aliyev said on Thursday during the
opening ceremony of the second World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue,
which kicked off in the capital city of Baku on May 28-June 1.

Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in a deadly conflict
over Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian-majority enclave inside
Azerbaijan, for more than two decades. The conflict escalated into
a full-scale war in the early 1990s when Armenian-backed forces
under the command of current President Serzh Sarksyan occupied 20
percent of Azerbaijani territories, including Nagorno-Karabakh and
seven adjacent territories, killing some 30,000 people. Hundreds of
thousands fled their homes before a cease-fire was signed in 1994,
although there is as of yet no peace treaty.

Expressing his regret that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has yet to
be solved, Aliyev said that this outrage of justice is still ongoing
even though the international community is keeping a close eye on a
peaceful solution to the conflict.

“International norms do not work with regards to a solution to the
conflict. The four resolutions on Nagorno-Karabakh passed by the
UN Security Council, which send a clear message for Armenian armed
forces to withdraw from the occupied territories, have yet to be
implemented,” Aliyev noted, calling for an immediate end to the
occupation of Azerbaijani territories.

The UN Security Council adopted four resolutions in 1993 — 822, 853,
874 and 884 — urging the parties concerned to comply with them, in
particular by refraining from any armed hostilities and by withdrawing
military forces from any occupied territories. But Armenia has thus
far refused to withdraw its troops from the occupied lands.

“Armenia does not attach any importance to these resolutions;
the occupation and injustice is still ongoing. A solution to the
conflict will be an indication of respect for international norms and
will bring an end to the historic injustice,” Aliyev said, adding,
“Nagorno-Karabakh is a territory of Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan must
regain its territorial integrity.”

Commenting on multiculturalism and developing it further in Azerbaijan,
Aliyev said that multiculturalism has deep roots in Azerbaijan as
the country is home to various cultures and religions.

“The representatives of different cultures and religions live
together as a family in Azerbaijan,” Aliyev noted, adding that
memories belonging to ethnic minorities and religious sects are
diligently protected as the country views them as a form of respect
for its history.

Noting that there are no substitutes for multiculturalism as the only
alternatives are discrimination, xenophobia, racism and fascism,
Aliyev said, “I believe that in the 21st century the international
community needs to vigorously combat such negative phenomena.”

Believing that there are many great opportunities to further develop
and strengthen multiculturalism across the world, Aliyev said that
the world needed political willingness to strive for multiculturalism.

Calling on the international community and humanity to be more active
to put an end to such unpleasant problems, Aliyev also believed
that the second World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue is a great
contribution to the development of dialogue, tolerance, diversity
and multiculturalism.

“The World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue which is held in Azerbaijan
every two years is a serious and important step on the path to
developing intercultural dialogue as those who have convened here
seek a common aim; a successful future of intercultural dialogue,”
Aliyev said, urging the need to take steps towards ensuring peace in
the world.

The forum, which has a theme of “Peaceful Coexistence in a
Multicultural World,” kicked off in Baku on May 28 and will continue
until June 1. The heads of international organizations, current
and former presidents of several nations and the ministers of more
than 100 countries, heads of think tanks, scientists and high-level
representatives of centers engaged in intercultural dialogue and
diplomats are attending the forum.

The East-West Meeting of the Ministers of Culture was also held for
the first time in Baku on Friday on the sidelines of the second World
Forum on Intercultural Dialogue.

TURKEY STAKES CLAIM IN AMERICA WITH $100 MILLION MEGA-MOSQUE

The building of this center takes Turkey’s “outreach” in America out
of the realm of the subtle.

By Ryan Mauro Tue, May 21, 2013

A drawing of Turkey’s $100 million mega-mosque complex being built
in Maryland.

The government of Turkey is building a 15-acre, $100 million
mega-mosque in Lanham, Maryland. Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan
visited the site on May 15 as part of his official visit to the U.S..

The state of Maryland was officially represented at the event by its
Secretary of State John McDonough.

The event was also attended by the leaders of two U.S. Muslim
Brotherhood entities.

The mega-mosque is called the Turkish American Culture and Civilization
Center and, according to the Muslim Link, it “will likely become the
largest and most striking examples of Islamic architecture in the
western hemisphere” when it is finished in 2014.

The Muslim Link explicitly says it is “a project of the government
of Turkey.”

On May 15, Prime Minister Erdogan spoke to hundreds of people at the
construction site and said he’d come back for the opening ceremony
next year. He warned the audience that there are groups promoting
“Islamophobia,” branding potential critics as paranoid bigots. Erdogan
recently said that “Islamophobia” and Zionism are equivalent to
fascism and anti-Semitism, saying they are a “crime against humanity.”

On this trip to the U.S., Erdogan brought the father of one of the
Islamists killed while on a Turkish flotilla which was trying to break
Israel’s weapons blockade on Gaza. Gaza is controlled by Hamas, which
is a designated terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.

Erdogan reportedly wanted to him to meet President Obama. (In the end,
the father met with Secretary of State John Kerry.)

The leaders of two U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entities in attendance
included Naeem Baig, is the president of the Islamic Circle of North
America (ICNA). A 1991 U.S. Muslim Brotherhood memo lists ICNA as one
of “our organizations and the organizations of our friends.” The memo
says its “work in America is “a kind of grand jihad in eliminating
and destroying the Western civilization from within.” The memo even
refers to meetings with ICNA where there was talk about a merger.

ICNA is also linked to the Pakistani Islamist group Jamaat-e-Islami
and its conferences feature radical speakers. A former ICNA president
was recently indicted for horrific war crimes committed during
Bangladesh’s 1971 succession from Pakistan – the torture and murder
or 18 political opponents.

The second official from a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entity that attended
the event was Mohamed Magid, president of the Islamic Society of
North America (ISNA). ISNA and several of its components are listed
as U.S. Muslim Brotherhood fronts in the same 1991 Brotherhood memo.

ISNA was also an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation
case, dubbed the largest Islamic terror-funding trial in the history
of the U.S. Federal prosecutors in the case also listed ISNA as a
U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entity.

The Turkish government has been quietly spreading its influence in the
U.S., but Erdogan’s public invovlement in the building of this center
takes Turkey’s “outreach” in America out of the realm of the subtle.

The Clarion Project recently reported on the growing ties between the
Turkish government and Native American tribes. With Congress’ help,
thousands of Turkish contractors and their families may be flooding
into America’s heartland and settling in semi-autonomous zones of
the Native Americans, well out of the reach of American authorities.

The Clarion Project also reported on the Turkish Fethullah Gulen
school network in America, which is currently under FBI investigation.

The network is the largest charter school network in America. It
is the same network that has been a critical component in Turkey’s
on-going transformation from a secular democracy into an Islamic state.

Erdogan and his Islamist government calls Hamas a “resistance” group,
despite the fact that Hamas specifically targets Israeli civilians
with suicide bombings and rocket attacks. Not surprisingly, Hamas
leader Khaled Mashaal is a big admirer of Erdogan.

Since taking office in 2003, Erdogan has been implementing his
Islamist agenda, slowly but steadily changing Turkey from a secular
democracy to an Islamist state: College admissions have been changed
to favor religious students, the military has been gutted of its
secular generals (with one in five generals currently in prison on
dubious charges) and women have been routed out of top government
jobs. Honor killings in Turkey increased 1,400 percent between 2002 and
2009. Persecution of artists and journalists has become commonplace
as opponents are charged with “crimes” like “denigrating Islam” and
“denigrading the state.”

According to the Muslim Link, the new center will have five buildings,
including a mosque “constructed using sixteenth century Ottoman
architecture that can hold 750 worshipers.”

The Turkish American Culture and Civilization Center will be the
largest Islamic site in the Western Hemisphere. The fact that it is
being built by the government of Turkey represents the next step in
Erdogan’s desire to increase the Islamist influence in America.

Ryan Mauro is the ClarionProject.org’s National Security Analyst,
a fellow with the Clarion Project and is frequently interviewed on
Fox News.

ABKHAZIA, THE COMFORTABLE CONFLICT ZONE

Thomas de Waal Op-Ed May 28, 2013 National Interest

Despite its continued diplomatic isolation, heavy reliance on Russian
aid, and uncertain future, the breakaway territory of Abkhazia
has entered a period of relative normalcy as the country looks
increasingly inwards.

A curious word comes to my mind, entering a conflict zone: tidy.

Abkhazia looks tidy. The journey from the River Inguri to Sukhumi
(as most of the world still calls the city, the Abkhaz insist on
their traditional name Sukhum) follows a newly repaired road and
takes little more than an hour. Construction is going on all over town.

Shops are open and there are advertising hoardings on the street.

Russian tourists stroll along the embankment enjoying the bright
spring weather.

Thomas de Waal

Senior Associate Russia and Eurasia Program

The neatness is relative, of course. The streets are still much too
quiet. The major landmark in the center of the city remains the ruined
hulk of the Soviet-era parliament building, destroyed in the final
round of fighting between Georgians and Abkhaz in the war of 1992-3.

But the clean look reflects a political reality. People in Abkhazia
feel comfortable with their current situation.

In August 2008, following the five-day war with Georgia over
South Ossetia, Moscow recognized as independent Abkhazia and South
Ossetia, which had broken away from Tbilisi’s rule in 1992-93. Russian
recognition launched Abkhazia on a new trajectory, solving one set of
problems while generating new ones. Chiefly, it relieved at a stroke
the greatest anxiety of the Abkhaz-their feeling of insecurity about
re-conquest by Tbilisi. As a result, the issue of what Georgia thinks
or wants has perceptibly receded into the background, and the Abkhaz
political scene is more parochial, focused on internal issues.

This more inward-looking Abkhazia, especially since the 2011
election of President Alexander Ankvab, also pushes back against
Western countries that have traditionally supported Tbilisi. The
Abkhaz government has threatened to stop access to foreign diplomats
accredited in Tbilisi, on the ground that this implies recognition of
Georgian sovereignty over Abkhazia. Some diplomats from home capitals
are still allowed in-but diplomatic traffic into Abkhazia has slowed
to a trickle. Some Europeans have proposed projects in Abkhazia under
the EU’s strategy of “engagement without recognition,” but their
proposals were rejected on the ground that they were offering merely
a fraction of what Abkhazia gets from Russia.

One European diplomat described this approach as “self-isolation.” But
as we sat on the Sukhum sea-front drinking coffee, Abkhazia’s de
facto foreign minister, Vyacheslav Chirikba, robustly rejected the tag.

“How can you call a country which had more than seven million visitors
last year isolated?” asked Chirikba. He said a steady stream of
Russians and others were crossing Abkhazia’s northern border all the
time to take advantage of Black Sea tourist resorts.

“And we are not ‘occupied’ either,” he added. “Where are the
occupiers? I don’t see any,” he added, jokingly looking under the
cafe table. In fact, the only Russian soldiers I saw in three days
in Abkhazia were at the border crossing. Whatever Russian control
there is over Abkhazia is administered with a light hand.

But no one can dispute Russia’s economic dominance. The International
Crisis Group reported recently that a quarter of the budget comes
from direct Russian transfers, and that’s separate from a massive
Russian-funded infrastructure program for roads, schools, government
buildings and agriculture. Also, Russia pays the pensions of Abkhazia’s
retired.

The economy remains unhealthy, thanks in part to the government’s
big Ottoman-style bureaucracy, much larger than a political entity of
around 250,000 people can afford. “It’s hard being ‘on the needle,'”
said Stanislav Lakoba, secretary of the national security council
in Abkhazia, referring to the republic’s almost total dependence on
Russian economic subsidies.

Lakoba, a widely respected historian, has had several run-ins with
Russian parliamentarians determined to whitewash Russia’s nineteenth
century oppression of the Abkhaz. Still, Lakoba is not keen on engaging
with Europe via Georgia, although he says he would have welcomed it
a few years ago. “That train has left,” he says.

Since Abkhazia is cut off from mainstream international politics,
its internal discourse centers on issues the outside world barely
recognizes. There is a fierce debate about whether Abkhaz passports
should be extended to ethnic Georgian residents in Gali region in
southeast Abkhazia. And I heard discussions about whether it would be
beneficial for Georgia to recognize Abkhaz independence, or whether
the emphasis should be on third countries doing so.

Moderates want to extend Abkhaz passports and seek Georgian recognition
of their independence. They see the twenty thousand Georgians who
have taken Abkhaz passports as a sign of the success of the Abkhaz
state-building project-a pursuit of the “standards before status”
strategy adopted with Kosovo. Conservatives would deny citizenship to
ethnic Georgians and reject all engagement with Tbilisi. Lakoba argues,
for example, that giving Abkhaz passports to Gali Georgians who may
also secretly be holding Georgian passports “explodes” Abkhazia.

Such controversies get no hearing in Georgia. Tbilisi does not
recognize Abkhaz passports as legitimate (although it does sometimes
accept them as identification for everyday transactions across the
border). And recognition for Abkhazia is not on the agenda: the
very small number of Georgians who have raised the issue say it is
theoretically feasible only with the return of more than two hundred
thousand internally displaced persons.In Tbilisi, Georgia’s sovereignty
over Abkhazia and the right of return of Georgian IDPs are taken as
given. The big issue is whether to amend (not even annul) the Law
on Occupied Territories, whether to allow the Abkhaz more access to
the outside world in the name of engagement. Georgia now has its most
progressive government team dealing with the two breakaway territories
of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. A minister named Paata Zakareishvili,
who has two decades of experience in working with Abkhaz and Ossetians
in the nongovernmental sector, holds this portfolio.

The previous government, led by Mikheil Saakashvili’s United National
Movement, had re-cast the conflicts as purely Georgian-Russian
disputes, downplaying the local origins of them in the late 1980s and
early 1990s and the role extreme Georgian nationalism had played in
triggering them.

Despite an “engagement strategy” that read well on the page, the
focus continued to be on calling the two territories “occupied” and
keeping them isolated from the world. Saakashvili personally vetoed
a proposal to allow three Abkhaz students to study in Brussels.

Since taking office last October, the new government has worked
to reverse such practices. “Saakashvili was always looking for
an opportunity to say no to Abkhaz and South Ossetians,” said
Zakareishvili. “We are looking for reasons to say yes-while always
taking into account of course the state interest of Georgia.”

The results have been small but significant. Covert Georgian military
units operating on Abkhaz soil have been disbanded. There is more
commercial traffic across the Inguri, and two new crossing points
were opened last week (although there is a fear that the border will
be tightened ahead of next year’s Sochi Olympics). The two sides
are finally working together properly on the important issue of the
missing, both the dead from the war and the living who are detained.

Yet, all new initiatives taken by the new government on the conflicts
are criticized by the opposition United National Movement as a
capitulation to Russian interests.

Everyone understands that Abkhazia is a protracted conflict: the
irresistible force of Russian protection collides with the immovable
object of widespread international recognition that Georgia holds
sovereignty over the republic.

Zakareishvili acknowledges he is in a long-term game. “Sooner or
later they will understand that they need alternatives in Georgia
and Europe,” he told me.

Given this, a game-changing move is needed. The only possibility I
can see is to rebuild the broken railway line around the Black Sea
connecting Sochi, Abkhazia, western Georgia and Armenia. If the
railway were to be rebuilt, the benefits would be massive to the
whole region. The new Tbilisi government floated the idea last fall,
but it met resistance from Azerbaijan and the Georgian opposition
and received only lukewarm support in Russia and Abkhazia.

It is striking how many people are either resisting or failing to
support a big regional project that could reconnect broken parts of
the region. It illustrates how everyone has grown comfortable with
a status quo that is still producing long-term discomfort to Abkhaz,
Georgians and others.

This article was originally published in the National Interest.

ARMENIA’S NEW AUTHORITIES TO ESTABLISH TRUE DEMOCRACY – GAREGIN CHUKASZYAN – VIDEO

tert.am
22:04 ~U 31.05.13

Garegin Chukaszyan, Coordinator of the Preparliament of Armenia action
group, made a speech at the Preparliament’s meeting in Freedom Square.

The major aim is to form new authorities in Armenia, which requires
four steps.

“The first step is people’s organization in Armenia and in the
Diaspora. We have volunteers – about 1,000 people are registered as
support group members. A coordinating council is working in Gyumri. We
have met with them and discussed further activities,” he said.

The second step is coordinating the representative body’s activities.

“A constituent parliament will be formed to exercise power during the
tradition. The fourth step is when the body will get popular support.

After the necessary number of votes is available, the body will become
legitimate and submit an application for a change of power to the
incumbent administration,” Chukaszyan said.

The new authorities will organize new elections which will establish
true democracy in Armenia.

THE FOREIGN MINISTRY ADMITS THAT TURKEY DISRUPTED THE GENOCIDE RECOGNITION PROCESS

May 30 2013

During the discussion on the 2012 annual progress report of the Foreign
Ministry, Nikol Pashinyan asked Shavarsh Kocharyan, a Deputy Minister
of Foreign Affairs, a question. Firstly, he complained that the report
had taken a rose-colored view of the situation. “The document is about
what incredible and unprecedented success the ministry achieved in
the year under review. When the Armenia-Turkey protocols were signed,
the government was accused of disrupting the Genocide recognition
process. Have any country recognized the Genocide in the past 10
years? Football diplomacy started in 2007; in 2010, Sweden recognized;
we haven’t had recognition in 2011, 2012. “Isn’t it high time that
the Foreign Ministry admits that football diplomacy has disrupted the
Genocide recognition process?” Nikol Pashinyan requested to answer
his questions, using plain language, not diplomatic language. Shavarsh
Kocharyan replied: “The Armenia-Turkey protocols – let us not relate
them to each other because they were really being slowed down at
that time. There is news in the Turkish press as if there are secret
negotiations. There are no negotiations; spread of that kind of news is
just in Turkey’s interests. Now everything is in our hands, and Turkey
is really under pressure from that perspective; we should try to put
forward evidence that this whole process of the Genocide recognition
has been disrupted by Turkey itself.” Nikol Pashinyan also asked:
“The so-called Khojaly massacre has been recognized by a few states
of the US, don’t you think that the Armenian Foreign Ministry deals
a blow to the national security of the Republic of Armenia when it
puts forward such rose-colored reports.”

According to Shavarsh Kocharyan, “They spend huge money on the Khajaly
issue, try to ram it through. They have succeeded in some places.” He
assured that the Armenian Foreign Ministry was actively working;
for example, they had published a booklet about the real events in
different languages and spread it. According to Nikol Pashinyan,
it was asserted that Turkey had tried to convince the international
community, had seen a way to disrupt the Genocide recognition process;
i.e., the Deputy Foreign Minister confirmed that Turkey had gained
from the Armenia-Turkey protocols what it had wanted, convincing for
5 years. Hripsime JEBEJYAN

Read more at:

© 1998 – 2013 Aravot – News from Armenia

KARABAKH PRESIDENT GETS FAMILIARIZED WITH ARMENIA’S EMERGENCY SITUATIONS MINISTRY’S ACTIVITY

13:55 ~U 31.05.13

President of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Bako Sahakyan toured today in
Armenia’s Emergency Situations Ministry accompanied by the minister
Armen Yeritsyan. He got familiarized with the divisions of the ministry
and attended the demonstrative exercises.

The minister and the NKR president agreed over cooperation. “I am
convinced that part of the discussed programs will be implemented in
the near future with Karabakh. I would like some events be conducted
in Artsakh,” Bako Sahakyan said, stressing that it is necessary to
register same results in Karabakh.

The latter said that corresponding divisions of rescue service are
participating in ensuring safety of the country. “What I have seen
is a new culture in our lives and I am very interested in seeing
this culture in Artsakh as well. Unfortunately, we are in emergency
situations every day,” the NKR president said, adding that he does
not want to use word ‘cooperation’ as in reality it is a modest
service to the homeland. “I am waiting for you in Artsakh,” Bako
Sahakyan concluded.

Armenian News – Tert.am

ARMENIA MAY JOIN SEPARATE ASPECTS OF EURASIAN INTEGRATION – RUSSIAN ANALYST

May 31, 2013 | 00:22

The current activities of the Eurasian economic association enable to
raise economic efficiency, Russian political scientist Andrei Areshev
told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

To the query as to which countries will be included in the Eurasian
Economic Union in 2015, he responded:

“Everything depends on the precise talks to be held with a given
country. As far as reported, Kyrgyzstan has filed an application to
join the Eurasian Economic Union, [and] consultations are in progress
with Ukraine,” Areshev said.

He also stressed that Armenia, Turkmenistan, and several other
countries likewise may join the separate aspects of Eurasian
integration.

“As is known, this is about the economy and nothing more; this is
not about the loss of political sovereignty. The Eurasian Economic
Union project stresses its exclusively economic nature,” Andrei
Areshev concluded.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

MAINTENANCE COSTS OF ARMENIA’S CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES ARE INCREASING – JUSTICE MINISTER

May 31, 2013 | 11:21

YEREVAN. – The maintenance costs of Armenia’s correctional system
totaled about 7.3 billion drams (approx. $17,518,467) in 2012,
thereby increasing by 3.9 percent as compared to 2011.

Justice Minister Hrayr Tovmasyan noted the above-mentioned during
Friday’s National Assembly session devoted to the initial discussion
of the 2012 State Budget performance.

He informed that 3.4 square meters were allocated for each prisoner in
2012, against the 3 square meters in the years past. Work is underway
to make this reach 4 square meters, which meet international standards.

As per Tovmasyan, solely two of Armenia’s thirteen correctional
facilities are supplied with natural gas, and, as a result, the
electricity costs are high.

In addition, it is planned to enlarge the correctional facilities
and to have five, instead of today’s thirteen prisons.

In 2012, a total of 124,700 drams (approx. $300) were spent on each
inmate per month, in the case when about $3,000 is spent in developed
countries.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

“ARMENPRESS” INTRODUCES 20TH BESTSELLER BOOKS LIST: LEVON ANANYAN’S BOOK SETS NEW RECORD

11:28, 31 May, 2013

YEREVAN, MAY 31, ARMENPRESS. New samples of fine literature appear
in the bestseller books list introduced by “Armenpress” News Agency
each week. The book titled “The Class of Armenian Language” by the
Chairman of the Writers’ Union of Armenia, author Levon Ananyan set a
new record this time, thus surpassing its own record of the previous
week. “The Class of Armenian Language” dedicated to the issues of
preservation of the native language tops the Bestseller Books List.

“A Place Far Away” novel by contemporary Lebanese-Armenian author
Vahan Zanoyan occupies the second position of the Bestseller Books
List. Vahan Zanoyan’s novel appears in our list for the first
time. Popular “Masha and the Bear” tale occupies the third place of
this week’s rating list. This book has always been included in the
bestseller books list and occupied high rank positions. This book is
followed by “The Squirrel’s Song” book, which has been included in
our list for the first time.

“Stone Candle-Stick” By Zaven Bekyan occupies the fifth place.

“Tales” by Hovhannes Toumanyan published by “Bookinist” publishing
house occupies the sixth position of the list. Hovhannes Toumanyan’s
“Tales” is followed by “The Alchemist” novel by contemporary Brazilian
author Paulo Coelho. This book has been translated into 67 languages
and according to AFP, it has sold more than 30 million copies in 56
different languages, becoming one of the best-selling books in history
and winning the Guinness World Record for most translated book by a
living author. “Memories of My Melancholy Whores” by Columbian author
Gabriel García Marquez is on the eighth position.

The Armenian version of prominent Azerbaijani writer Akram Aylisli’s
“Stone Dreams” published by “Graber” publishing house occupies the
ninth place in the bestseller books list. Artak Vardanyan translated
the novel into Armenian. Aram Ananyan authored the preface of the
book and the publication was edited by Seyranuhi Geghamyan. And
“Tales” by Hovhannes Toumanyan published by “Arevik” publishing house
occupies the final position of the Bestseller Books List introduced by
“Armenpress” News Agency.

UNE COMPAGNIE AERIENNE VA LANCER DES VOLS ENTRE TEL AVIV ET EREVAN A PARTIR DE JUIN

La compagnie aerienne israelienne Arkia va lancer des vols reguliers
entre Tel Aviv et Erevan a partir de juin a annonce Marcelo Wende,
le directeur general de l’aeroport de Zvartnots ajoutant que les vols
reguliers aideront a renforcer les liens israelo-armeniens.

Il a dit que six millions de citoyens israeliens voyagent a l’etranger
chaque annee pour les vacances et qu ‘etant donne les bonnes relations
israelo-armeniennes, l’Armenie a le potentiel d’attirer certains
d’entre eux.

Alexander Nurok, le representant d’Arkia en Armenie, a declare que les
vols vont stimuler l’industrie du tourisme dans les deux pays ainsi
que les relations israelo-armeniennes. Il a dit qu’Israël a facilite
le processus d’obtention des visas pour les citoyens de l’Armenie.

Auparavant, ils devaient se rendre en Georgie voisine afin d’obtenir
des visas, où il y a une ambassade israelienne. Maintenant des visas
peuvent etre obtenus auprès des agences de voyages locales. Il
a indique que la compagnie effectue deux vols hebdomadaires a
destination de Tbilissi, et qu’après avoir etudie le marche armenien,
elle a decide de lancer des vols vers Erevan.

Alexander Nurok a declare que la compagnie aerienne operera un
vol hebdomadaire par un Embraer E-95 ayant 120 sièges en classe
economique. Le coût d’un billet aller-retour est de 310 euros. Le
premier vol Tel Aviv a Erevan est prevue pour le 28 mai. Tous les
billets ont deja ete achetes.

vendredi 31 mai 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com