Author: Kalantarian Kevo

JIRAIR LIBARIDIAN: “COLD WAR IN CAUCASUS CONTINUES UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF EXTERNAL FORCES”

APA
June 28 2012
Azerbaijan

Independence doesn’t mean that you can behave as you want

Baku. Ramil Mammadli – APA. “I am very happy to arrive in Baku. I
want to find new friends as a result of this event. Do people live
in Caucasus see their future? We don’t still approach this issue so
and we don’t see settlement of problems at a regional level. Before
our expectations were from Moscow, but now from Brussels, Strasbourg
and the other cities. Now we are searching for our future elsewhere,”
said Jirair Libaridian, senior adviser to the ex-president of Armenia,
Levon Ter-Petrossian at the international conference entitled “Joint
efforts for the sake of Caucasus’ future: Past 20 years and its
lessons”, which was organized by the Center for Strategic Studies
under the President of Azerbaijan (SAM), Caucasus International and
Turkish Policy Quarterly magazines. Libaridian said that everybody
thought that the “cold war” has ended after gaining independence: “But
the “cold war” in Caucasus hasn’t ended, the war continues under the
influence of external forces. We don’t know how much time this cold
war will continue. It has already known that independence doesn’t
mean that you can behave as you want. We can see it much in small
countries. We made big mistakes. The Nagorno Karabakh conflict is not
problem of the two countries. It is problem of Georgia too, because,
it is difficult to carry out joint projects in such situation.”

President of the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International
Studies Alexander Rondeli noted that South Caucasus countries look
like experimental rabbits: “After independence, we thought that how
we would pursue state-building policy. We thought that everything
would be better. But we had no strategic culture. Ethnic nationalism
annihilated Georgia. We try to solve this problem. We haven’t got
necessary results yet. New revolutionary group in Georgia try to find
common point in security and democracy. They achieve successes in
most cases. But there are still difficulties. There are such people
in Georgia that they still think about the USSR. I am a classic soviet
product, but I don’t think so. Georgia was a multinational country. We
must find common formula in this issue.”

RUSSIAN ARMED FORCES TO GET FIRST HOME-MADE DRONE IN 2014

PanARMENIAN.Net
June 28, 2012 – 17:32 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The first domestically-developed strike unmanned
aerial vehicle (UAV) will be put in service with the Russian armed
forces by the end of 2014, a defense industry source said on Thursday,
June 28, RIA Novosti reported.

In early April, Russia’s Defense Ministry issued a technical
specification for the development of the drone. The new aircraft is
expected to have a modular structure and be able to carry various
types of equipment and armament.

“St. Petersburg-based Tranzas company has been ordered to start flight
tests of the strike drone in the beginning of 2014 in order to put it
in service by the end of the same year,” the source told RIA Novosti
at the engineering technology forum in Zhukovsky.

The source did not reveal the details of the weapons load as they
are classified, but said the drone will weigh about a ton.

President Vladimir Putin said on June 14 that Russia must develop a
range of military UAVs, including strike and reconnaissance types as
soon as possible.

Russia plans to spend around 400 billion rubles ($13 billion) on UAV
development in the next eight years.

Moscow has so far bought two Bird Eye-400, eight I-View Mk150 and
two Searcher Mk.2 UAVs, totaling $53 million, from Israel.

PROGRESS HAS BEEN ACHIEVED IN ARMENIA-EU NEGOTIATIONS ON VISA FACILITATION

ARMENPRESS
28 June, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JUNE 28, ARMENPRESS: The third stage of negotiations between
the Republic of Armenia and European Union on visa facilitation took
place on June 28. Armenian delegation was headed by Deputy Foreign
affairs minister Zohrab Mnachakanyan. Representatives of Foreign
affairs and Justice Ministers as well as of Police were among the
delegation.

Armenpress was informed from Media, information and public relations
department of Foreign affairs ministry that during the negotiations
it was mutually mentioned with satisfaction that due to productive
work of the sides progress has been achieved in the process which
began in February 2012. It is expected to finish the negotiations on
visa facilitation at near future.

By the agreement on visa facilitation Armenian citizens will be able
to get visa for the countries of Schengen zone more easily.

By the agreement it will be stated that Armenian representatives of
several specialties – scientists, students, journalists, businessmen,
sportsmen and other people can get visa more easily. It is planned
to decrease the cost of the visas as well as to make it out of charge
for children and pensioners.

IT’S A MATTER OF 1.5 BILLION EUROS”
Arman Galoyan

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 17:02:41 – 28/06/2012

According to Radio Liberty, the European Union has postponed the donor
conference for Armenia hinting that the parliamentary elections didn’t
match their expectations, and that Brussels will wait until the 2013
presidential elections. We talked to economist Vahagn Khachatryan,
ANC member, on this issue.

How would you interpret this decision?

There were rumors before the elections that the European Union will
provide financial support to Armenia. If you remember, the prime
minister left for Brussels at the beginning of this month. But he
had no success. Now, Serzh Sargsyan himself left for Brussels to save
the situation. But he also failed.

Why?

First of all, they focused on the quality of the elections. This is
interesting especially against the background of the OSCE/ODIHR report
which made rough assessments of the elections. It is not accidental
that the conference has been postponed until the presidential election
2013. Besides, there are other reasons relating to the NKR issue,
economic reforms, corruption etc. The authorities used to say that the
RPA election list will host no oligarchs but they didn’t keep their
promise and nothing changed. The same oligarchs are now in parliament.

They had made promises also relating to the economic reforms but
nothing changes and Armenia keeps moving backward. The same relates to
the fight against corruption. Armenia is the same corrupt, futureless,
authoritarian state. This is why the Europeans don’t want to support
Armenia.

What amount of money are we speaking about?

This is a matter of 1.5 billion euros for three years, which is quite
a lot for Armenia. They are keeping Tigran Sargsyan in the post of
PM to bring money from other countries, while we saw his visit to
Brussels fail.

Do you think after the election 2013, Europeans will finally issue
financial support to Armenia?

We still need to arrive in 2013. In economic terms, this year will
be worse. We have serious issues with Russia and we will feel the
consequences. Transfers coming from Russia will drop. Gas bills are
expected to go up, there are other issues relating to Nairit Company
of Yerevan. The Russians are prone to reveal energy abuse. So, the
situation is more complicated than we can imagine.

SEVERAL FLAWS IN COURT SYSTEM

06:06 pm | Today | Politics

Judges and courts violate several people’s rights to freedom and
people find themselves in jail, said lawyer Lusine Sahakyan said
during a press conference today.

“This hurts the government and taxpayers because when a person is
deprived of liberty, the government makes expenditures. When the
person is in prison and later, when the European Court views the
verdict as a violation, the government pays certain amounts of money,”
said Lusine Sahakyan.

The lawyer doesn’t accept the cases when the court sentences a
person to jail without any evidence obtained. Lusine Sahakyan says
imprisonment should be applied only in special cases.

“The Court of Appeals established certain precedents that clearly
defined that it was inadmissible to select imprisonment as a measure
of restraint against a person without any facts or grounds,” said
the lawyer.

According to her, in the past couple of years, judges haven’t been
brought to justice for their illegal acts.

“Since lawyers aren’t brought to justice, they are independent and
don’t even present demands from those who demand from them,” said
Lusine Sahakyan.

Lawyer Yervand Varosyan sees no grounds for the view that the judge
is constrained when he is brought to justice.

“Bringing judges to justice won’t make them feel less independent,
but will help them be more independent,” said lawyer Yervand Varosyan.

THE DEMAND ON TUFF REDUCED

ARMENPRESS
27 June, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JUNE 27, ARMENPRESS: The decline in tuff production has been
registered in Armenia. During 2012 January-April overall 8 thousand
524,3 tons of tuff has been produced , 193, 3 of which in April. Th 50,
8 % decline is recorded when we draw a parallel with the same period
of the previous year. Industry department of the Ministry of Economy
informed Armenpress that decline, making over 34, 6 % has been seen
in outer facing slabs production as well.

Armenpress reporter had a briefing with the several major company
representatives to determine the reasons of the production reduce.

Shirak province, Artik town based “Karastgh “company director Oleg
Gabrielyan verified the decline in the production of tuff and grounded
it with the reduction of interest from abroad towards Armenian tuff .

” A few years ago there was a great demand especially by Russian
companies,they have not still recovered after the crisis, reportedly
the marketability of our tuff has reduced” Gabrielyan came forth with.

To the reporter’s question on the export of tuff to Europe ” Karastgh”
representative was quoted as saying , there is a lack of information
in European countries towards Armenian tuff, they are not familiar
with this type of building materials, and therefore there is no
appropriate order.

Tuff is a type of rock consisting of consolidated volcanic ash ejected
from vents during a volcanic eruption. Tuff is sometimes called tufa,
particularly when used as construction material, although tufa also
refers to a quite different rock. Rock that contains greater than 50%
tuff is considered tuffaceous.

This volcanic origin stone widely applied in Armenia has five types-
, Ani (yellow, orange), Artik (pink, purple), Yerevan (black, red),
Byurakan (pink, black spots, dark gray, black spots ) and felsitic
type (figured).Due to the porous quality it retains the cold in winter
season and hot in summer times.

NAIRA ZOHRABYAN CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL EXPERTISE

03:01 pm | Today | Politics

Naira Zohrabyan, a member of the Armenian delegation to the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), made a
discussion at today’s discussion that focused on the crisis of
democracy in CoE member states.

She highlighted the reports of co-rapporteurs Andreas Gross
(Switzerland, SOC) and Nursuna Memecan (Turkey, ALDE).

“Europe is experiencing a crisis of democracy today, and there are
numerous reasons behind it. Some of them are presented in the report
of Nursuna Memecan. The populist extremism in many member countries
of the Council of Europe is a serious threat for democratic values. I
agree with the co-rapporteur that the populist speeches made by some
leaders are leading to an atmosphere of hatred and intolerance,”
said Naira Zohrabyan.

As an example, she cited Azerbaijani President’s speech made at the
Baku-hosted session of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly on April 3.

Naira Zohrabyan labeled it as an unmatched speech of racism and
xenophobia.

“And it is not accidental that in its report the European Commission
against Racism and Intolerance said the Azerbaijani authorities are
deepening intolerance towards Armenians with their constant negative
statements. This is simply impermissible,” she said.

“Therefore, we should fight jointly against any word and action
that escalates tension between different racial, ethnic, religious
or social groups. I address my words to Turkey which is constantly
violating the rights of national minorities. We have raised the issue
from the PACE tribute many times,” said the Armenian delegate.

Naira Zohrabyan then cited an extract from the co-rapporteur’s report
where the PACE urges the CoE member states to include in school
curricula anti-racist programs that will promote peaceful resolution
of conflicts.

“I call on my PACE colleagues to study Azerbaijani textbooks in which
Armenians are presented as vandals and killers. These textbooks will
further deepen intolerance, racism and extremism in Azerbaijan’s
future generation and give rise to serious problems that Europe is
facing today,” she said.

SAMED SEIDOV: AZERBAIJAN WANTS TO WORK AT PACE WITH DE FACTO AUTHORITIES OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH
by Oksana Musaelyan

arminfo
Wednesday, June 27, 13:46

ArmInfo’s interview with the head of the Azerbaijani delegation to
PACE Samad Seidov

The PACE President is against the revival of the ad hoc committee on
Nagorno-Karabakh. Considering the past experience – when the Turkish
PACE President showed an opportunist approach towards this problem –
it seems quite easy to predict the future of this structure. What
are you going to do in this situation?

We believe that the Nagorno-Karabakh problem should be considered
in the framework of the Council of Europe, and all attempts to debar
the CE from this process are not right: we can’t leave everything to
the discretion of the OSCE Minsk Group. Nobody objects to the MG’s
mediating the peace process. Simply, there are several negotiating
formats. Some points need coordination by the presidents, but there
are also problems requiring confidence building measures and meetings
among public representatives and MPs. This is what we advocate.

Azerbaijan has never wanted to work with Nagorno-Karabakh and has
never regarded it as a full party to the conflict…

Who says we don’t want? When speaking at PACE yesterday, I said that
Nagorno-Karabakh representatives might come to the CE if they didn’t
want to meet in Azerbaijan or anywhere else. We are ready to directly
contact with them under the aegis of the CE, to organize meetings among
Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijani and Armenian representatives… so we
could build some bridges.

Is this your personal position or the position of your government?

No, it is Azerbaijan’s official position. We are interested
in arranging meetings between Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians and
Nagorno-Karabakh Azerbaijanis in any format – be it here or in the
framework of the Minsk Group.

And what about the authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh?

The Azerbaijanis of Nagorno-Karabakh must certainly meet with the
Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians.

I mean the de facto authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh…

I don’t know what authorities they have.

President Bako Sahakyan…

Bako Sahakyan is a representative of the Armenian community of
Nagorno-Karabakh. And representatives of that community must for
sure meet with representatives of the Azerbaijani community. This is
exactly what we advocate.

You are making a sensational statement now, aren’t you?

No.

I mean, Azerbaijan has always been against direct meetings with the
de facto authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh.

This is not a sensational statement, this is Azerbaijan’s position,
and you can read it in Resolution 1416, in the paragraph about the
need of meetings between the Armenian and Azerbaijani communities of
Nagorno-Karabakh… One of our key requirements is that they should not
just meet but should work on a constant basis. I am always surprised
to hear the Armenians say that we do not want to meet with them. On
the contrary, we want to meet, while our Armenian friends don’t.

What do you think about the charges of European Stability Initiative
that the Azerbaijani delegates to PACE bribe their European “friends”
with caviar so as to gain their favor? The term “caviar diplomacy”
has become widespread already…

You mean our Bulgarian friend? Yes, you mean that caviar report, aren’t
you? It is not news, is it? There are thousands of such reports. You
saw – didn’t you? – what a lashing of Azerbaijan they organized all
over Europe.

Do you distribute caviar here or not?

The biggest caviar producers here are Iran and Russia, we have almost
no caviar left in Azerbaijan…

THE CATHOLICOS OF ALL ARMENIANS KAREKIN II TO CONSECRATE THE HAGIGADAR ARMENIAN MONASTERY IN ROMANIA

ARMENPRESS
27 June, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JUNE 27, ARMENPRESS: On August 12, the Hagigadar Armenian
Monastery’s 500th anniversary will be celebrated with the Catholicos
of All Armenians Karekin II traveling from Armenia for the first time
to Romania to consecrate it, reports Armenpress citing The Armenian
Mirror Spectator.

The Hagigadar Armenian Monastery built in 1512 on a hill outside of
this Romanian town has been called a “church of miracles,” known for
its power of granting the wishes of believers, who over the centuries
have come from all over the world to pray there. It is being completely
restored through Romanian-born benefactors Hagop and Ica Kouyoumdjian
of New York. “This church is a place of pilgrimage, like Lourdes
in France. It’s a place for all Christians, not just Armenians who
ascend the hill on their knees and circle the church three times as
they pray,” stated Romania’s Primate Bishop Datev Hagopian, in an
exclusive interview recently at the Armenian Diocese in New York.

“Every day, at least 100 people come from places like the Ukraine,
Poland, Hungary, Moldova, and of course, Romania. In 500 years, this
monastery of pilgrimage (oughtavayr) has never been closed for prayers,
with Badarak celebrated every week. In the diaspora, it is the only
vank [cathedral], except for Jerusalem, Antelias and Bolis,” he noted.

The Kouyoumdjians who were born in Romania, returned five years ago to
visit the Armenian monasteries there. They visited the two Armenian
monasteries in Suceava, and finding them in dilapidated condition,
decided to renovate them “This is the only place of pilgrimage, and
we felt that we had to do something,” said Ica Kouyoumdjian. After
receiving a “go ahead” from Karekin II, the plan was put into motion.

Revealing the origins of the Sucheava Vank, Hagopian related that
more than 500 years ago, the Donavag brothers who were Armenian
businessmen, traveling to Vienna, rested on a hill and in a dream
saw angels singing. They pledged that if they succeeded in Vienna,
they would build a monastery on that hill outside of Suceava, which
was the capital of Moldovia until 1564, as well as an important
trading center with a large Armenian population, and seven Armenian
churches. The vank was built and became a residence for nuns. “To
make a strong connection between Armenia and the vank, a bell made
in 1288 was brought to the church in 1512 from the Datev monastery.”

The whole church is filled with frescoes and there are three icons of
Mother Mary, he continued. “We don’t know which one of the icons is
the one of miracles, but those worshippers whose wishes are granted
have donated gifts of silver and bronze, some of which are hung on
the altar icon. Others are kept in a safe, along with hundreds of
archival materials about the Romanian Armenian community.”

This community dates from the 10th century when Armenians traveled
from Ani to the Ukraine, to Moldova and finally settled in Romania,
he related. “It became a small Ani.” In 1401, the archbishop’s chair
was established, becoming the oldest tem in the western diaspora. In
the 1800s, there were as many as 80,000 Armenians in Romania, mostly
wealthy businessmen. By the late 1940s, many sold their possessions
and left when the Communists took over, a good number going to Armenia,
and others emigrating to the US, Canada, Australia and Argentina.

Today, there are 18 Armenian churches and approximately 5,000 Armenians
in Romania, mostly in the fields of art and culture. One of the most
revered individuals in Romania has been Levon Garabed Baljian who
was born in Bucharest in 1908, became the Catholicos of All Armenians
Vasken I in 1955.

Hagopian who was appointed Primate of Romania in 2010 and elevated
to the rank of bishop during the 60th birthday ceremonies for Karekin
II in 2011, was born in Mosul, Iraq in 1966, and ordained a celibate
priest by Archbishop Avak Assadourian in 1993.

He has served in Iraq, Echmiadzin, Geneva, the Netherlands, Loire
and Lyon in France.

His trip to New York and Los Angeles recently was for the purpose of
making the connection with the Romanian-Armenians in America and to
invite them for the August 12 500th anniversary celebrations of this
revered Sucheava monastery, “a beacon on a hill.”

AUSTRIAN PRESIDENT IS ADMIRED BY SPIRITUAL AND CULTURAL TREASURES OF ARMENIA

ARMENPRESS
27 June, 2012
YEREVAN

President of Austria Heinz Fischer with his wife Margit Fischer on
June 27 visited pagan temple of Garni. They were accompanied by the
head of Kotayk region Kovalenko Shahgeldyan. Armenpress reports that
the history of the only pagan temple of Armenia which have been kept,
its architectural features.

High ranked guests visited Saint Mary Church of Geghard where they
heard parts from Armenian spiritual songs. “We today saw the cultural
treasures of Armenia which are not only the treasures of Armenia
but also international cultural civilization. I am more impressed
by the wonderful voice of young singers which were heavenly for me”
told the President of Austria during the briefing.

Speaking about his visit to brandy factory Fischer mentioned
that it was pleasure for him ti be in a place where 25-30 other
presidents had already been. “I do not find words to speak about the
hostility of Armenians. Their hostility is great, even too great,
and the journalists are smiling a lot which does not happen in Vienna
frequently” mentioned Fischer. He informed that before leaving Armenia
he would meet and speak with His Holiness Karekin II Supreme Patriarch
and Catholicos of All Armenians.