Author: Kalantarian Kevo

AT UN ON “PEACEFUL” USE OF OUTER SPACE, AZERBAIJAN & ARMENIA DUEL ON SEATS
By Matthew Russell Lee

Inner City Press
Nov 2 2012

UNITED NATIONS, November 2 –The “Peaceful” Uses of Outer Space gave
rise at the UN to a fight on Friday morning. Among three new members
proposed for the topic’s Committee was Armenia. Azerbaijan challenged
it, first in Vienna then in the General Assembly’s Fourth Committee.

The issue was Nagorno Karabakh, which also gave raise to several rights
of reply in the late night sessions of the General Debate in September.

But this was a new foray, seeking to block Armenia from a seat on
a relatively obscure UN committee. As one diplomat asked Inner City
Press rhetorically, is either one in outer space?

There are a lot of push back to and votes against Azerbaijan. Cyprus
on behalf of the European Union said this was an attempt to politicize
membership on the Committee.

The UN is, of course, a political place.

Algeria’s Permanent Representative said that his country was willing
to take action against “occupying powers” — which would also include
Israel — but on a forum like the Security Council, not on membership
on Committees.

After the final Committee vote, where Mongolia and Turkey joined
Azerbaijan in abstaining, Turkey said that more effort should have
been put into coming to consensus on procedure, so it had abstained.

They were called the last speaker on the item. But the issue is sure
to reappear. Watch this site.

Update: Azerbaijan’s representative was later recognized to explain
its vote after the vote, and congratulated the other new members
Jordan and Costa Rica.

Then he proceeded to say Armenia was behind the occupation of 20%
of Azerbaijan, and made eight percent of Azerbaijanis internally
displaced persons. He said Armenia is not a peaceful country, boding
badly for outer space.

Armenia’s Permanent Representative finished with a point of order,
calling it a fantasy to link a bilateral issue with outer space.

ARMENIA AND EU PLEASED WITH RESULTS MARKED IN 2012

Mediamax
Nov 2 2012
Armenia

Yerevan/Mediamax/. Today, the Secretary of the Armenian National
Security Council, Artur Baghdasaryan, expressed satisfaction with the
results registered in the regular round of negotiations on Armenia-EU
Association Agreement held in Brussels on October 26.

This was stated at the regular session of the EU Advisory Group,
Mediamax reports.

Artur Baghdasaryan said that progress in 10 directions has been
registered in negotiations. At the same time there is still a lot to
be done yet.

Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Traian Hristea said
for his part that “very positive steps” have been taken in 2012 in
Armenia-EU relations.

“We move with rapid steps in negotiations on Association Agreement
and we have serious reasons for optimism. I can say the same about
the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area Agreement,” Traian Hristea
said. –0–

OUTSIDER BOGGED DOWN IN PROTRACTED BATTLE FOR ALEPPO

AlArabiya.net
November 1, 2012 Thursday
UAE

Munzir is still a teenager but he’s already a veteran of the Syrian
war. He fought in his hometown, driving out regime soldiers, and is
now trying to do the same in Aleppo.

Except that winning Aazaz only took a couple of weeks.

More than three months after moving into Syria’s commercial capital,
rebels lay claim to a patchwork of Sunni Arab neighborhoods dotted
across the north, south and east of Aleppo.

The fighting lays bare their inability to capture a metropolitan city
with limited weapons unknown to many of the fighters and to win over
some 2.5 million residents to a rebellion increasingly hijacked by
an Islamist agenda.

“It’s a very different fight here,” conceded Munzir as he got ready
to go home on leave for 48 hours after two months’ fighting.

“People in Aazaz worked with us and respected us, but here half the
people don’t protect us and don’t like us,” he said.

None of the 12 men in his unit come from Aleppo, which makes it all
the harder to fight urban warfare in such a large, unknown city.

Armed only with homemade bombs, Kalashnikovs, RPGs and machineguns,
it’s a painful fight, inch by inch. Munzir says his last operation
ended in retreat after one fighter was killed and four others were
wounded.

An AFP team watched last week as it took an hour and 10 minutes to
prepare and then take out a regime sniper position — essentially
blowing up one storey of an apartment block.

Abu Mohammed, a charismatic and respected commander in Aleppo who
claims to command 350 to 400 fighters under the United Salam Brigades,
concedes there is a lack of indigenous recruits in some units.

Sitting in olive groves where he is training men for commando
operations, he blames the problem on so many people fleeing Aleppo
when the fighting started, and clerics and businessmen in the city
who he says support the regime.

Air strikes and shelling have destroyed families, devastated homes
and ruined businesses. Mushrooming piles of rubbish lie rotting in
the streets.

People complain about power cuts, food shortages, rising fuel prices,
losing their jobs and of course, they are frightened.

But in rebel-held areas, few if any openly criticize the Free Syrian
Army (FSA), the main armed group fighting to bring down President
Bashar al-Assad.

At a checkpoint behind the frontline, a woman arrived in tears from
a visit to her daughter’s home, which the family abandoned in haste
under fire.

“I came to have a look and found everything stolen,” she sobbed,
clutching a few bags of children’s winter clothes.

The FSA offered little comfort other than putting her in a taxi and
discouraging AFP from asking her questions.

“We don’t know everyone here,” shrugged one of the fighters.

In the next street, retired Armenian teacher Kohareen ignored FSA
calls to evacuate. In her 60s, she says she has nowhere else to go.

Bombed-out buses seal off sniper alleys and Islamist graffiti has been
sprayed onto buildings of what was once a thriving, Muslim-Christian
community.

“We want peace for everyone, for everyone to come back home. Life was
good. We were comfortable,” she said. With a rebel gunman standing
below, she added: “God willing the FSA will protect us.”

‘Problem in Aleppo is the people’

She went back inside and defected lieutenant, Ahmed Saadeen, 24,
burst into complaints about why the city was taking so long to capture.

“The problem in Aleppo is the people. It’s as if they don’t care. For
one month I haven’t been home on leave, so how can they celebrate
(the recent Muslim holiday of) Eid while people are dying?” he said.

Experts say the battle for Aleppo will be protracted given the
rebels’ shortage of heavy weapons and with the regime keen to avoid
the international condemnation that would come from inflicting major
massacres.

Marwa Daoudy, a lecturer in international relations at Oxford
University, says Aleppo reflects the stalemate in the rest of the
country, but that its urban elites set it apart from disadvantaged
towns easily captured by the rebels.

The merchant class, Christians and Muslims, have prospered since the
economic reforms of 2005, she said.

Although they have become much more critical of the regime, many
people are nervous about insecurity and the future as the Islamist
agenda promoted by some of the rebel groups has hijacked the uprising.

“Clearly the basis for the FSA is very much in the poorer areas and
so far in the last year and a half the heart of Aleppo had been very
much outside the conflict except protests at the university,” Daoudy
told AFP.

“On the Christian side, they’re worried about the post-Assad period
in terms of the treatment of minorities, but the Sunnis are divided.

“People fear now for their security and the future of the country.

People also don’t know who some of the insurgents are and what their
agenda is,” she said.

WORKERS IN GYUMRI DEMAND UNPAID WAGES

07:25 pm | November 02, 2012 | Social

A group of employees today gathered outside the Glendale Hills
construction company in Armenia’s Gyumri city to demand their unpaid
salaries. The protest was held in accordance with a preliminary
agreement. However, no representative from Yerevan turned up to meet
the protesters.

For more details, watch the video of Tsayg TV

THE SORE LOSERS OF THE SYRIAN CRISIS
By Thierry Meyssan

November 02, 2012 “Information Clearing House” – During a recent
Round Table in Ankara, Admiral James Winnfeld, Vice-Chairman of the
U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, announced that Washington would reveal
its intentions toward Syria once the 6 November presidential
elections were over. He made it plainly understood to his Turkish
counterparts that a peace plan had already been negotiated with
Moscow, that Bashar al-Assad would remain in power and that the
Security Council would not authorize the creation of buffer zones.

For his part, Herve Ladsous, the U.N. Assistant Secretary General for
Peacekeeping Operations, announced that he was studying the possible
deployment of peacekeepers (“blue helmets”) in Syria.

All regional actors are preparing for the cease-fire which will be
overseen by a U.N. force composed principally by troops of the
Collective Security Treaty Organization (Armenia, Belarus,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikstan). These events signify that
the United States is effectively continuing a process, begun in Iraq,
of retreat from the region and has accepted to share its influence
with Russian.

At the same time, the New York Times revealed that direct
negotiations between Washington and Iran are slated to restart even
as the United States continues its attack on Iranian monetary values.

It is becoming clear that, after 33 years of containment, Washington
is acknowledging that Teheran is an established regional power, all
the while continuing to sabotage its economy.

This new situation comes at the expense of Saudi Arabia, France,
Israel, Qatar and Turkey all of whom had placed their bets on regime
change in Damascus. This diverse coalition is now suffering divisions
between those demanding a consolation prize and those trying to
sabotage outright the process underway.

Ankara has already changed its tune. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, previously
ready for the worst, is now actively seeking reconciliation with
Teheran and Moscow. Several days after insulting the Iranians and
harrassing the Russian diplomats in his country, he is now all
smiles. He took advantage of the Organization of Economic Cooperation
in Baku to approach President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He proposed a
complex framework for discussing the Syrian crisis which would allow
Turkey and Saudi Arabia not to be left by the wayside. Careful not to
humilate the losers in the conflict, the Iranian president indicated
he was open to such an initiative.

As for Qatar, it is already seeking new horizons for its ambitions.

Emir Hamad took off on a trip to Gaza, posing as the self-appointed
protector of Hamas. He advocates the overthrow of the King of Jordan,
the transformation of the Hashemite monarchy into a Palestinian
republic and the installation in power of his proteges from the
Muslim Brotherhood.

Only Israel and France remain in the opposition camp. The new scheme
would offer a guarantee of protection to the state of Israel but it
would also alter its special status on the international scene and
end its expansionist dreams. Tel-Aviv would be relegated to being a
secondary power. France, also, would lose influence in the region,
particularly in Lebanon. Accordingly, the intelligence services of
both states have concocted an operation to collapse the
U.S.-Russia-Iran agreement which, even if it fails, would allow them
to erase the traces of their involvement in the Syrian crisis.

France started by circulating the rumor that President Bashar
al-Assad sponsored a Hezbollah plan to assassinate five Lebanese
leaders: the head of the security forces, the head commander of the
Ministry of the Interior, the Grand Mufti, the Maronite Patriarch and
former prime minister, Fouad Siniora. Then, Paris took out Michel
Samaha, who had served as liaison to the Syrian armed forces but who,
having been disgraced in Damascus, was no longer of use. This
brilliant and adept politician fell into the trap set for him by
General Wassam el-Hassan, head of the Free Syrian Army and himself a
liaison with the Salafists. Next, Paris eliminated General Wassam
el-Hassan himself, who had not only become useless in the eventual
advent of peace in Syria but also dangerous because of what he knew.

The French rumor became reality : the number one name on the list of
targets is dead and a pro-Syrian figure was arrested as he was
preparing an attack on another name on the list.

At the core of these machinations is General Puga. The former
Commander of Special Operations and Director of French Military
Intelligence was the head of the personal general staff of President
Nicolas Sarkozy and has been retained in that post by Francois
Hollande. Linked by his unconditional support for the Jewish colonial
occupation of Palestine [1] and having close connections to American
neoconservatives, he carried forward French colonial policies in the
Ivory Coast, Libya and Syria. Bypassing democratic institutions, he
determined on his own the direction of French policy in the Middle
East, despite his having no official appointment.

[1] “Gaza: France oversees the extension of the Separation
Wall,”Voltaire Network, 26 December 2009.

Translated from French by Michele Stoddard

WONDER WOMAN CHALLENGES GENOCIDE DENIAL
by Tom Vartabedian

Published: Friday November 02, 2012

Wilmington High senior Kim O’Dea.

Wilmington, Mass. – Life is full of super heroes in their quest
for justice.

You have your Batmans and Supermans, your Captain Americas and your
Incredible Hulks. On the female side, there’s none quite so impregnable
as the mighty Wonder Woman.

You’ll find her these days roaming the corridors of Wilmington High
School, looking to give Armenians their rightful due as victims of
Turkish brutality during the 1915 Genocide.

Okay, so it’s Spirit Day at the school and students did arrive in
costume. And, yes, the 17-year-old coed did choose to portray the
role of Wonder Woman.

But her peers must have done a double take when they passed her by
sitting in the corridor before a stoic display of Armenian Genocide
signs.

Imagine walking through an American high school and seeing Armenian
Tricolors gracing your walls with Genocide notices blatantly exposed
for all to see.

It’s all part of a world history curriculum at this school on human
rights being taught by Lisa Joy Desberg and Maura Tucker. Armenian
Genocide recognition — or lack of it — is one of history’s most
tainted observations.

With book in hand from Facing History and Ourselves, O’Dea struck a
conspicuous pose of a vigilante before these signs. They served as
a rather poignant backdrop of Armenian history with striking artwork
showing genocide victims and words of remorse.

One poster showed two Nazi gendarmes addressing a distraught family
with Hitler’s words: “Who, after all, talks now-a-days of the
annihilation of the Armenians.”

Another was a call for affirmative action with the words “Mobilize
and Coordinate,” capturing a more unified approach.

Others bore the words “Stripping the Armenians of their moral rights,”
showing families being violated. And “Genocide — a systematic,
deliberate extermination of a specific group.”

It’s not all classroom orientation, either. The two instructors have
taken their students to Armenian lectures in Boston, attended Joyce
Van Dyke’s production of “Deported — A Dream Play.” In the works is
a visit to the Armenian Heritage Memorial on the Rose Kennedy Greenway,
in conjunction with a visit to the Holocaust Museum in Boston.

They’ve beseeched the Postmaster General to issue a postage stamp
commemorating the Armenian Genocide and have attended other genocide
programs within proximity to better acquaint themselves with Armenian
issues.

In a sense, they’ve turned into activists for the Armenian Cause.

Through the genocide, perhaps they will all become ambassadors for
our martyred nation and accomplish what we’ve been unable to do —
get proper legislation in Washington that will bring some closure to
a 98-year-old debate against recognition.

The idea of a woman escaping turmoil with a bundled child through
the desert was purely visionary for students like O’Dea who never
had an inkling as to the genocide. The Jewish Holocaust remained in
the forefront. So have recent tribulations like Darfur.

But until the Armenian Genocide was introduced as a tangible component
of this curriculum, it never happened in their minds because little
or nothing is portrayed in our world history texts. O’Dea and others
are looking to change the perception, whether it takes a fictitious
costume to gain attention or more of a hands-on approach.

What really sets off an avalanche is when a neighboring school like
Peabody High plans to host a panel discussion on genocide and leaves
out the Armenians. Other beleaguered countries like Cambodia, Rwanda,
Bosnia and the Jews are represented but not us.

Intentional or an oversight one may ask? For decades, Peabody was
among the Merrimack Valley communities hosting regular genocide
commemorations at City Hall. And the late Mayor Peter Torigian was
often taken to task by the local Turkish community for using municipal
grounds to condemn his constituents.

Back and forth they would go in the local press until the matter
passed to the following year. Peter always stuck to his guns when it
came to defending his honor.

We could all turn out and demonstrate as conscientious Armenians. Or
send Wonder Woman to our defense. I can just see O’Dea jump up from the
audience in her red, white and blue costume and fight for our right.

“We’ll be there with our students,” said Desberg. “And when the
opportunity comes, we will mention the Armenians. Students should be
taught true events in history. Everyone should be given the right to
be educated about a defining moment in history that has affected a
world’s population.”

Content-Type: MESSAGE/RFC822; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Content-Description:

MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
From: Mihran Keheyian
Subject: Wonder Woman challenges genocide denial

Wonder Woman challenges genocide denial
by Tom Vartabedian

Published: Friday November 02, 2012

Wilmington High senior Kim O’Dea.

Wilmington, Mass. – Life is full of super heroes in their quest for justice.

You have your Batmans and Supermans, your Captain Americas and your
Incredible Hulks. On the female side, there’s none quite so
impregnable as the mighty Wonder Woman.

You’ll find her these days roaming the corridors of Wilmington High
School, looking to give Armenians their rightful due as victims of
Turkish brutality during the 1915 Genocide.

Okay, so it’s Spirit Day at the school and students did arrive in
costume. And, yes, the 17-year-old coed did choose to portray the role
of Wonder Woman.

But her peers must have done a double take when they passed her by
sitting in the corridor before a stoic display of Armenian Genocide
signs.

Imagine walking through an American high school and seeing Armenian
Tricolors gracing your walls with Genocide notices blatantly exposed
for all to see.

It’s all part of a world history curriculum at this school on human
rights being taught by Lisa Joy Desberg and Maura Tucker. Armenian
Genocide recognition — or lack of it — is one of history’s most
tainted observations.

With book in hand from Facing History and Ourselves, O’Dea struck a
conspicuous pose of a vigilante before these signs. They served as a
rather poignant backdrop of Armenian history with striking artwork
showing genocide victims and words of remorse.

One poster showed two Nazi gendarmes addressing a distraught family
with Hitler’s words: “Who, after all, talks now-a-days of the
annihilation of the Armenians.”

Another was a call for affirmative action with the words “Mobilize and
Coordinate,” capturing a more unified approach.

Others bore the words “Stripping the Armenians of their moral rights,”
showing families being violated. And “Genocide — a systematic,
deliberate extermination of a specific group.”

It’s not all classroom orientation, either. The two instructors have
taken their students to Armenian lectures in Boston, attended Joyce
Van Dyke’s production of “Deported — A Dream Play.” In the works is
a visit to the Armenian Heritage Memorial on the Rose Kennedy
Greenway, in conjunction with a visit to the Holocaust Museum in
Boston.

They’ve beseeched the Postmaster General to issue a postage stamp
commemorating the Armenian Genocide and have attended other genocide
programs within proximity to better acquaint themselves with Armenian
issues.

In a sense, they’ve turned into activists for the Armenian Cause.
Through the genocide, perhaps they will all become ambassadors for our
martyred nation and accomplish what we’ve been unable to do — get
proper legislation in Washington that will bring some closure to a
98-year-old debate against recognition.

The idea of a woman escaping turmoil with a bundled child through the
desert was purely visionary for students like O’Dea who never had an
inkling as to the genocide. The Jewish Holocaust remained in the
forefront. So have recent tribulations like Darfur.

But until the Armenian Genocide was introduced as a tangible component
of this curriculum, it never happened in their minds because little or
nothing is portrayed in our world history texts. O’Dea and others are
looking to change the perception, whether it takes a fictitious
costume to gain attention or more of a hands-on approach.

What really sets off an avalanche is when a neighboring school like
Peabody High plans to host a panel discussion on genocide and leaves
out the Armenians. Other beleaguered countries like Cambodia, Rwanda,
Bosnia and the Jews are represented but not us.

Intentional or an oversight one may ask? For decades, Peabody was
among the Merrimack Valley communities hosting regular genocide
commemorations at City Hall. And the late Mayor Peter Torigian was
often taken to task by the local Turkish community for using municipal
grounds to condemn his constituents.

Back and forth they would go in the local press until the matter
passed to the following year. Peter always stuck to his guns when it
came to defending his honor.

We could all turn out and demonstrate as conscientious Armenians. Or
send Wonder Woman to our defense. I can just see O’Dea jump up from
the audience in her red, white and blue costume and fight for our
right.

“We’ll be there with our students,” said Desberg. “And when the
opportunity comes, we will mention the Armenians. Students should be
taught true events in history. Everyone should be given the right to
be educated about a defining moment in history that has affected a
world’s population.”

FRENCH TELEVISION AIRS DOCUMENTARY ON ARMENIAN CROSS-STONES

news.am
November 02, 2012 | 11:14

The French France 2 television on Thursday broadcast a thirty-minute
film, which was shot this summer in Armenia and devoted to the art
and tradition of Armenian cross-stones.

Renowned French scholars, historians, and arts and craftsmen
contributed to the documentary with their professional accounts. Also,
the film has episodes where a call is made toward preserving
cross-stones and with respect to the destruction of Armenian
cross-stones and cemeteries in Nakhichevan.

To note, France 2 will air a similar documentary on December 30
entitled “Roots and History of the Armenian Church in Early Centuries.”

ARMENIAN ‘ASHTARAK KAT’ TO EXPORT DAIRY PRODUCTS TO GEORGIA

news.am
October 31, 2012 | 11:28

Director of Ashtarak Kat Company Stepan Aslanyan is the interlocutor
of Armenian News-NEWS.am.

“Ashtarak Kat” CJSC is a company well-known by the Armenian consumers
for a long time. Are you satisfied with the position that the company
holds in the local dairy market?

“Ashtarak-Kat” Company constantly strives to develop and maintain
high quality of its products. We follow the developments in the
sphere and try first to present innovations by enhancing production
in respect of both technology and skilled labor. This and a number
of other consecutive steps ensure the strong position of the company
in the local market and of course, create preconditions for export
of our products.

Each company’s primary objectives are continuous development and
attracting stronger position in the market, however, Armenian market
is quite limited. You should probably pay attention to the markets
of neighboring states. Has any work been done in this direction?

All developed companies have aspiration and goals for the export
realization. Being established as a leading company in local
market also supposes export prospects, which in our case is already
implemented for a long time. Currently we export several products
– jams, canned food and milk powder – to Russian Federation and
ice-cream and waffle cones to Georgia. As for the dairy products,
I can say that it has been several months that preparatory work
has been carried out to export diary to Georgia. Now I can say that
“Ashtarak Kat” Company will export dairy products to Georgia very soon.

Why are you taking steps in this direction now? Were there any problems
before or the company was just focused on the Armenian market?

We always pay special attention to the export issue. Continuous
research and studies were conducted in this direction. As I said,
certain types of products are currently exported. Regarding dairy
products, we also have experience in their export in relatively small
quantity. The foreseen export volume will be substantially larger
and will be extended over time.

What is the reason of choosing the Georgian market? Is it the immediate
neighborhood of Georgia to Armenia or there are other circumstances?

Several factors contributed to such a decision. First of all, as you
already mentioned, Georgia is our immediate neighbor. Besides, we
also conducted researches to make sure there is a positive attitude
towards the brand in Georgia. For several years, “Ashtarak Kat” and
its dairy products participated in the exhibitions held in Georgia
and as a result our dairy products enjoy great interest and demand
among Georgian people and local Armenian population.

Is it possible to establish production in Georgia as well? We know
that you are actively working with farmers in Armenia; do you have
any programs of cooperation with the farmers in Javakhk?

There are always goals to expand, develop and find new directions for
collaboration. At this moment I cannot say anything specific but in
near future we see a possibility to start new production as well as
partnership with new farmsteads.

By the way, what kind of variety is offered in the Armenian market
at the moment? And which types of dairy products do you intend to
export to Georgian market?

“Ashtarak Kat” Company offers to the Armenian consumers the widest
assortment of dairy products: in the range from classical dairy
products up to the ice-cream, cheese, yoghurts and, of course, ‘Kovik’
brand, which is the first low-fat dairy product series in Armenia.

As for the Georgian export, large part of our variety – ‘Classic’ and
‘Kovik’ dairy (sour cream, curd, matsoun), glazed curds, processed and
Lori cheese, drinkable and classic yoghurts, especially children’s
favorite Yogu-Mogu and Mojo – will be available for Georgian
consumers. By its design the latest has really been popular among
Georgians and the current activity in Mojo Facebook page is the proof
of it.

When do you plan to start export to Georgian market?

As I said, over the past few months, we have carried out preparatory
work and I think already in November the Georgian consumers will also
have the opportunity to enjoy Armenian high-quality dairy products.

In what quantity do you plan to export dairy to Georgia?

Initially the export will be realized in experimental batches,
but with a time course the volumes will be extended, of course,
along with the growing demand and in accordance with the results of
research and analysis.

Ashtarak Kat Company was founded in 1995. Presently the company
has about 500 employees, produces 45 kinds of ice cream, with its
flavoring subspecies, milk powder, jams and preserves, 60 types of
dairy products with its subspecies, including ‘Kovik’ dairy products
which are the first low-fat dairy product series in Armenia.

Currently, Ashtarak Kat Company cooperates with over 6000 farmsteads,
the number of which is increasing year by year.

AGBU TRIP TO KARABAGH MARKS BEGINNING OF 87TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY WEEK IN YEREVAN

News | November 1, 2012 10:14 am

AGBU delegates gather in front of the iconic Armenian monument “We
Are Our Mountains” during a three-day trip to the Republic of Nagorno
Karabagh that kicked off the organization’s biennial General Assembly.

STEPANAKERT – On Sunday, October 14, Armenian General Benevolent Union
(AGBU) delegates and guests, under the leadership of AGBU President
Berge Setrakian, departed for a three-day trip to the Republic of
Nagorno Karabagh (NKR or Artsakh). There, they became acquainted
with NKR’s social-economic situation and local AGBU projects, met
with public figures, and visited Shushi and Gandzasar.

The highlight of the trip was a meeting with President Bako Sahakyan
and members of the NKR government held the next day. Sahakyan welcomed
the AGBU delegates, expressed his gratitude for the organization’s
work in NKR and provided a thorough status update on the economy,
focusing on areas such as agriculture, hydro-electricity, mining
and tourism. In turn, Setrakian thanked him for the briefing, his
leadership and his focus on building the economy and improving the
educational infrastructure.

Both past and future projects were discussed, including a new
AGBU complex, composed of 30,000 square feet of land, located in
the center of Stepanakert, which is being spearheaded by AGBU in
partnership with the American University of Armenia (AUA) and the
TUMO Center for Creative Technologies. Through the AUA Extension
Program, NKR students will have the opportunity to attend specialized
courses at the center that focus on English language improvement and
preparation for university entrance exams, specifically the GRE/GMAT
and TOEFL. The program will also offer courses in management, tourism
development, media technologies and more. The TUMO Center will also
play an important role, offering educational experiences to NKR youth
interested in creative and broadcast technologies. Additionally,
the center will be home to both a chess club and an academy for young
musicians. As Setrakian noted, the project will create an attractive
environment for Karabagh’s youth to enjoy the opportunities of
developing their talents while remaining in their homeland.

The visit culminated on Monday evening by a concert by the Karabagh
Chamber Orchestra, the highly talented group which the AGBU founded
in 2004 and has supported ever since.

US EMBASSY REPLIES TO DIASPORA-ARMENIAN BUSINESSMAN’S LETTER

news.am
November 01, 2012 | 16:20

YEREVAN. – The US Embassy in Armenia on Thursday responded to
American-Armenian businessman Edmond Khudyan’s October 25 letter,
which was addressed to Ambassador John Heffern.

In the Embassy’s letter, which was sent to the Diaspora-Armenian
Investors’ Advocacy Initiative, it is assured that the Embassy is
following Khudyan’s case.

“We are concerned by all those allegations, on illegal financial
dealings, which could harm U.S. citizens,” the letter specifically
reads.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, Edmond Khudyan, an
American-Armenian businessman who was swindled when starting a
construction venture in Armenia and who is not yet recognized as the
wronged party in the criminal case that was opened 1.5 years ago
in this connection, continues to fight for the restoration of his
violated rights.