Author: Kalantarian Kevo

U.S. Ambassador’s Tough Statements

The U.S. Ambassador John Heffern stated in a meeting with the students
of Synopsys Armenia that he reports to the U.S. ambassador directly
but he also tries to put pressure on the U.S. president to recognize
the events of 1915. The ambassador says Armenia is a complicated
country due to the events of 1915.

Certain pressure is made on the U.S. president through me, including
in regard to recognition of the events of 1915.

John Heffern says surprised that despite closed borders the Armenians
find ways to achieve success, develop, they are warm, and Armenia is
not a grey country as he had thought before arriving here.

To achieve success Armenia must have different options and should not
depend on one option so they encourage Armenia to face the West to
find another option there. We are not trying to replace Russia and its
functions here, the U.S. ambassador said.

John Heffern says the business climate must be improved to result in
growth of the levels of international investments. He noted that he is
and will continue working with American businessmen to bring
investments to Armenia.

Business requires rule of law, transparency, competitiveness and
predictability, he says, noting that they always tell Armenian
officials that SMEs need honest competition. Heffern says there is a
tax system and a customs system but there are certain complaints on
behalf of the American businesses which try to import goods but find
that customs clearance is too expensive. He also notes that someone
starting a business needs to be sure that the judicial system will be
fair. John Heffern says there is progress on these issues but there is
a lot to do.

John Heffern underscored the DCFTA between the EU and Armenia, holding
out hope that it will be successfully implemented. Armenia needs those
ties, all the Armenians will benefit from the application of
international standards, he says.

The U.S. ambassador notes that Armenia is mainly present in IT but
American investments are expected to develop tourism and food
processing in the regions of Armenia. According to the ambassador,
there is a possibility to create jobs for the people in the regions,
as well as tourism but an expensive air ticket policy is conducted.

Armavia does not exist, Armenia must open up its sky and accept all
the air companies, he says, noting that they are working towards
bringing American Airlines to Armenia.

Heffern noted that the future of Armenia is in knowledge-based economy.

20:24 13/05/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:

For whom?

2013-05-13 17:18:16

Here is Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko in Armenia, according
to RA President’s official website, he is in Armenia at Serzh
Sargsyan’s invitation, but, in fact, as well as media reports from
Belarus, Lukashenko is actually in RA at Gagik Tsarukyan’s invitation.

This hypothesis is quite plausible, taking into account several
important factors. First, Gagik Tsarukyan has friendly relations with
Lukashenko, consecration of St. John church in Abovian built with the
funding of Gagik Tsarukyan and opening ceremony of “Pharaon”- huge,
entertainment complex, they say, it is unprecedented in the whole
region- all these confirm the fact.

However, in this case the situation, in which Serzh Sargsyan appeared,
is interesting. But in what situation is actual the President? It
turns out that the President has not arrived at the invitation of RA
President. The situation could be absurd not only for Serzh Sargsyan,
but also for the foreign President.

And not taking steps in this case, would mean a capitulation, in this
case by Gagik Tsarukyan, which is, of course, given recent events, is
impermissible for Serzh Sargsyan.

But apart from this situation, there is another important factor,
which promises to be quite interesting in Serzh Sargsyan’s Gagik
Tsarukyan’s background of comminucation. It is already known that
Alexander Lukashenko during his official visit will attend
consecration of St. John church, and attention, accompanied by Serzh
Sargsyan. It turns out that Serzh Sargsyan attends the event on the
basis of the situation in which he found himself, that is, from kind
of dead-end situation, which is the only way, and which leads towards
Gagik Tsarukyan.

So what can occur as a result of the tripartite meeting?

In the first variant this could relax the tense situation, which has
been developed in Armenia. It can mitigate rate, which excludes the
PAP’s role in political life, and, as shown by the composition of the
new government, even in the sport. So, it turns out that Gagik
Tsarukyan is seeking ways to regulate relations with Serzh Sargsyan
that may be either successful, depending on the context, or vice
versa.

And here in the second version Gagik Tsarukyanmay take the initiative,
that is, he can show that not only RA President may appoint meetings
and be capable of dictating rules of game in Baghramyan 26, but him,
too.

Thus, in any case, in this situation, Gagik Tsarukyan appears as the
organizer, which means relaxation of pressure coming by Serzh
Sargsyan, or, at least, a guarantee of dialogue to find common ground,
why not expect the ruling system in a particular segment, which
Tsarukyan needs as air and water, taking into account the situation in
which the President of Olympic Committee has appeared.

Gevorg Avetisyan

Heydar Aliyev preferred Armenian cognac

13:52, 13 May, 2013

YEREVAN, MAY 13, ARMENPRESS: After the Russian President presented the
Prime Minister of Great Britain with an Armenian cognac in Sochi, a
video appeared in the Internet proving that the former Azerbaijani
president Heydar Aliyev preferred Armenian cognac.

The British The Telegraph Newspaper published that during the meeting
in Sochi the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin
presented an Armenian cognac of 42 years to the Prime Minister of the
United Kingdom David Cameron and stated that such cognac was presented
by Iosif Stalin to Winston Churchill at the Yalta Summit in 1945.

One of the bloggers remembered the spicy comment of Victor
Shenderovich, how the editor-in-chief of Echo of Moscow radio station
Alexander Venediktov nearly presented an Armenian cognac to the
Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev.

As reported by Armenpress, the Azerbaijani haqqin.az news website
published a video in YouTube, in which Victor Shenderovich tells about
that funny story. After the interview with Heydar Aliyev the staff of
the publishing house prepared a hospitality table, putting there an
Armenian cognac. The editor-in-chief of Echo of Moscow radio station
Alexander Venediktov got angry with them, demanding to change the
Armenian cognac with an Azerbaijani one. Noting that on the table was
only a poor quality Azerbaijani cognac, Heydar Aliyev instructed the
Azerbaijanis, accompanying him, to leave and asked Venediktov: `Don’t
you have an Armenian cognac?’

France’s investments in Turkish NPP will have effect on its position on
`Armenian genocide’ issue
2013-05-13 13:11:16

French investments in the construction of the second nuclear power plant in
Turkey could have an effect on France’s position on the issue of the
“Armenian genocide”, the Sabah newspaper quotes Turkish Energy and Natural
Resources Minister Taner Yildiz as saying on Monday.

“After these investments, France will be more attentive to its statements
on the “Armenian genocide” issue. I believe that the Sinop NPP will have an
effect on France’s position on the “Armenian genocide” issue, Yildiz said.
In early May, Turkey and Japan signed an intergovernmental agreement on the
construction of the second nuclear power plant in Turkey.

Japan will build the nuclear power plant together with France. It is
reported that the construction of the second nuclear power plant in Sinop
will cost $20-$22 billion. The nuclear power plant in Sinop will be built
by Japanese company Mitsubishi in a consortium with the French GDF Suez,
but the operator of the project will be the Japanese company, Trend reports.

Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that Turkey’s predecessor, the Ottoman
Empire committed genocide in 1915 against Armenians living in Anadolu.
Their efforts have achieved the recognition of the ‘Armenian Genocide’ by
the parliaments of several countries.

Ministry of Agriculture to assess hail damage in Armavir and render assistance
ECONOMY | 13.05.13 | 12:59

Special headquarters led by first Deputy Minister of Agriculture
Grisha Baghiyan have been set up to assess the damage from the heavy
hail that hit the Armavir province of Armenia last weekend.

Farmers in the province staged protests on Sunday calling on the
government to offset the damages sustained by their households as a
result of the weather event.

The Ministry of Agriculture held an emergency meeting on Monday to
discuss ways of helping the farmers to keep their losses to the
minimum.

Minister Sergo Karapetyan said he got preliminary information about
the situation in Armavir while visiting, together with some of his
subordinates, some of the hardest hit communities.

The headquarters set up by the Ministry will also provide professional
advice to farmers and will help them organizer urgent work to remove
or alleviate the consequences of the hail.

The Ministry also plans to provide farmers with seeds and young plants
to replace the destroyed crops.

The Armenian hero whom Turkey would prefer to forget

10:39 13.05.2013

Sarkis Torossian, an Armenian-Turkish officer, was awarded medals for
his courage by Mustafa Kemal

`Confronted by the chilling 100th anniversary of the genocide of 1.5
million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Turks in 1915, Turkey’s
government is planning to swamp memories of the massacres with
ceremonies commemorating the Turkish victory over the Allies at the
battle of Gallipoli in the same year. Already, loyalist academics have
done their best to ignore the presence of thousands of Arab troops
among the Turkish armies at Gallipoli – and are even branding an
Armenian Turkish artillery officer who was decorated for his bravery
at Gallipoli as a liar who fabricated his own biography,’ Robert Fisk
writes in an article published by The Independent.

In fact, Captain Sarkis Torossian was personally awarded medals for
his courage by Mustafa Kemal, one of the Turkish heroes of Gallipoli
who later, as Ataturk, founded the modern Turkish state. But in view
of the desire of some of Turkey’s most prominent historians to brand
Torossian a fraud, the word `modern’ should perhaps be used in
inverted commas.

Now these academics are even claiming that the Armenian army captain
invented his two medals from the future Ataturk. Yet one of the most
the outspoken Turkish historians to have fully acknowledged the 1915
genocide, Taner Akcam, has tracked down Torossian’s family in America
and inspected the two Ottoman medal records; one of them bears
Ataturk’s original signature.

`Turkey, as we all know, wants to join the EU. I also, by chance,
happen to think it should. How can we Europeans claim that the Muslim
world wishes to stay `apart’ from our `values’ when an entire Muslim
country wants to share our European society? We are hypocrites indeed.
Yet how can Turkey still hope to join when it still refuses to
acknowledge the truth of the Armenian genocide – and symbolises this
denial by a scandalous attack on a long-dead Ottoman officer?’ the
author rites.

Captain Torossian’s memoirs, From Dardanelles to Palestine, were first
published in Boston in 1947. Ayhan Aktar, professor of social sciences
at Istanbul Bilgi University, first came across a copy of the book 20
years ago and was amazed to learn that there were officers of Armenian
descent fighting for the Ottomans.

The eight-month battle for Gallipoli – an Allied landing dreamt up by
Churchill in the hope of capturing Constantinople and breaking the
deadlock on the Western Front – was a disaster for the British and
French, and the mass of Australian and New Zealand troops fighting
with them. They abandoned the beach-heads in January of 1916.

In his book, Torossian recounts the fighting at Gallipoli and other
battles in which he participated – until, towards the end of the Great
War, he found his sister among the Armenian refugees on the death
convoys to Syria and Palestine. He then turned himself over to the
Allies, meeting (but not liking) T E Lawrence and re-entering Turkey
with French forces. He eventually travelled to the US where he died.

The gutsy Professor Aktar, however – noticing his colleagues’
unwillingness to acknowledge that Arabs and Armenians fought in the
Ottoman Army – decided to publish Torossian’s book in the Turkish
language. Initial reviews were favourable until two historians from
Sabanci University took exception. Dr Halil Berktay, for example,
wrote 13 newspaper columns in Taraf calling the entire book a fiction
and Torossian a liar.

Taner Akcam, the Turkish historian who discovered Torossian’s family,
was stunned by the reaction to the Turkish edition of the book; one
critic, he says, even claimed Torossian did not exist. The Turkish
Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, spoke at Gallipoli two years ago
and gave a perfectly frank account of how Turkey planned to define the
Armenian genocide on its hundredth anniversary. `We are going to make
the year of 1915 known the whole world over,’ he said, `not as an
anniversary of a genocide as some people claimed and slandered (sic),
but we shall make it known as a glorious resistance of a nation – in
other wour defence of Gallipoli.’

`So Turkish nationalism is supposed to win out over history.
Descendants of those who died with the Anzac troops at Gallipoli,
however, might ask their Turkish hosts in 2015 why they do not honour
those brave Arabs and Armenians – including Captain Torossian – who
fought alongside the Ottoman Empire’ Robert Fisk concludes.

Arménie
L’accord entre l’Arménie et l’UE signé en novembre

L’Union européenne devrait conclure un accord avec l’Arménie lors d’un
sommet en novembre dans le cadre d’un programme de Partenariat
oriental de l’UE qui regroupe six anciens Etats soviétiques.

Stefan Füle, commissaire européen à l’Élargissement et à la Politique
européenne de voisinage, a clairement annoncé que des résultats
concrets sont attendus au sommet qui se tiendra dans les capitale de
Lituanie, à Vilnius.

« Nous appelons cet accord, zone de libre-échange approfondie et
complète (ALE approfondi et complet), ce qui est très compliqué, mais
il porte sur l’harmonisation de la législation arménienne avec celle
de l’Union européenne », a-t-il dit.

Les fonctionnaires arméniens et la Commission européenne ont annoncé,
après un nouveau cycle de négociations à Erevan à la fin du mois de
mars qu’ils avaient travaillé sur les principaux termes de l’accord et
qu’il serait, en principe, finalisé d’ici novembre. « Si tout se passe
comme prévu … il sera signé l’année prochaine », a délcaré Gunnar
Wiegand, le négociateur en chef de l’UE.

L’Arménie et l’UE ont franchi une nouvelle étape le mois dernier
lorsqu’ ils ont signé à Bruxelles un accord sur la « réadmission des
immigrés clandestins ». Le document est lié à un accord pour faciliter
l’obtention des visas.

lundi 13 mai 2013,
Laetitia ©armenews.com

ESC Today (EuroVision Song Contest)
May 12 2013

Malmö live: Interview with Dorians

Esctoday.com editor, Edward Montebello got the chance to catch up and
have a conversation with Dorians, the Armenian representatives at the
2013 Eurovision Song Contest. Watch their interview below:

Dorians will represent Armenia at the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest in
Malmö. They will perform their song Lonely planet in the second semi
final of Eurovision 2013, on 14th of May.

Agence France Presse
May 11, 2013 Saturday 10:55 AM GMT

Turkey boosts security for Orthodox patriarch after ‘attack plot’

ISTANBUL, May 11 2013

Turkish police have boosted security around Patriarch Bartholomew I
after an alleged plot to assassinate the Orthodox Christian leader,
his office said Saturday.

A spokesman at the patriarchate in Istanbul said they had been
informed that one person had been arrested and that others were being
sought.

Turkish media said the arrested suspect, identified as Serdar A.,
allegedly planned to assassinate Bartholomew I on May 29, the 560th
anniversary of the Turkish capture of Constantinople, present day
Istanbul.

“Police have strengthened security at the patriarchate,” said
spokesman Father Dositheos Agnathostomatous. “It is doing everything
to ensure the security of the patriarchate and the patriarch.”

Agnathostomatous said however that Bartholomew I, the Archbishop of
Constantinople, did not take the plot very seriously.
“His holiness does not believe that it is something serious,” he said.

The development comes as several incidents have sown concerns among
Turkey’s Christian minority, which numbers 100,000 people.

On May 5, a man fired blanks outside an Armenian church in Istanbul,
sowing panic among worshippers celebrating Easter, and a young
Armenian was beaten outside another church.

On April 28, a Greek Orthodox church was vandalised by a dozen
teenagers. The day before, between 30 to 40 stone-throwing people
smashed windows at an evangelical church.

In recent years, there have been other attacks against Christians in
this overwhelmingly Muslim but secular country.
In April 2007, three Protestants had their throats slit in the eastern
city of Malatya. Five Turkish suspects face life sentences for the
crime.

An Italian Catholic priest was shot dead in a church in Trabzon,
northern Turkey in 2006. In July 2006, a Catholic French cleric was
stabbed in Samsun, also in the north.

Italian bishop Luigi Padovese, 63, was killed in June 2010, allegedly
by his driver, who reportedly suffered from psychological problems.

Targeted News Service
May 10, 2013 Friday 12:26 AM EST

Gov. Malloy & Lt. Gov. Wyman on Passing of Former Secretary of the
State Julia Tashjian

HARTFORD, Conn.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, D-Conn., issued the following news release:

Governor Dannel P. Malloy and Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman released the
following statements on the passing Thursday of Julia H. Tashjian of
Windsor, who served two terms as Connecticut Secretary of the State
from 1983 to 1991.

“For over 20 years, Julia committed her time, talent and energy to
serving the people and State of Connecticut,” Governor Malloy said.
“As Secretary of the State, Julia made great strides to modernize the
office and encourage greater participation in our democracy. I will
remember Julia for her years of public service, cheerful demeanor and
pride in her Armenian American heritage. Julia will be missed by all
who knew her and I offer my thoughts and prayers to her family during
this difficult time.”

Lt. Governor Wyman said, “Julia always had a smile and a laugh for
everyone. But behind that easygoing personality she was a very
hardworking public servant who was dedicated to her state, her family
and her beloved Armenian community.”

Contact: Peter Yazbak, 860/985-5528, [email protected]