Author: Kanayan Tamar

ERDOGAN’S NEW TURKEY: GOODBYE ATATURK, HELLO ATATURK

Huffington post
March 11 2015

Stefan Ihrig . Polonsky Fellow, Van Leer Jerusalem Institute

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s incumbent president and past prime
minister, struggles to escape the shadow of modern Turkey’s founder.

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk looms large over his country’s past, present and
future. It is hard to dismantle the figure, the legacy and the lasting
authority of Ataturk, very much to Erdogan’s dismay, especially as
Erdogan seeks to radically redefine the country — from the place
of religion in society to a reform of the constitution, including a
shift to a presidential system.

For a short moment, a few months ago, it seemed as if Erdogan had
received help from an unlikely source: Adolf Hitler. As my recently
published book detailed for the first time, Hitler and his national
socialists were big fans of Ataturk and his “New Turkey” — so much
so that they instituted a minor cult around the Turkish leader in
the Third Reich.

Hitler’s dictum that Ataturk and the Turkish nationalist movement
had been his shining star in the darkness of the democratic Weimar
Republic in the 1920s, became the official line of the Third Reich.

When the book came out, I was anxious about the reactions in Turkey.

To my surprise, they were not only immediate but also quite positive.

But then I realized it was primarily newspapers close to the governing
Justice and Development Party (AKP) — Erdogan’s party — that seemed
interested in discussing Nazi fandom of Ataturk as a means to discredit
Ataturk and his project.

As more people in Turkey had a chance to actually read the book,
however, less was said about it. To use whatever the Nazis said and
did for one’s own political ends is always a difficult and dangerous
matter, no less so for the AKP as it tried to dismantle Ataturk —
and distance Erdogan from him.

The Nazis’ one-sided love affair with Ataturk and his Turkey focused
on four aspects:

The Turkish war of independence against the Greeks and the Entente
powers, which followed World War I, and during which the Turks achieved
impressive results. In the end, the Treaty of Sèvres was modified with
much more favorable terms. The Germans, smothered under the Treaty
of Versailles, which imposed restrictive measures on development,
were envious.

The rapid modernization and re-construction of the country unimpeded
by a multi-party system and carried out by a strong leader, “according
to the will of the nation.”

The marginalization of religion in public and political life.

The campaign to rid Turkey of its minority populations (mainly through
the Armenian genocide during World War I, which came before Ataturk,
and then through the Greco-Turkish population exchange at the close
of the Turkish war of independence).

All these, however, are fairly unusable in order to discredit Ataturk
from an AKP point of view — except for the bit about secularism. (The
Nazis, actually, did not make much of this aspect of the New Turkey,
publicly anyway — they feared the power of the churches and popular
sentiment.) Theoretically, that would leave the Turkish war of
independence and modernization under a strong leader, as well as
the Armenian genocide and the expulsion of the Greeks. The Armenian
genocide is something that is still apparently too hot to touch for
most Turkish politicians, even for the otherwise unimpeded Erdogan.

And the AKP surely would not go as far as to discredit the Turkish
war of independence, as it was a founding event for Turkey.

And by now it might become clear that the Nazi adulation of Ataturk
is a potential boomerang for the AKP if it really wanted to exploit
this episode of German-Turkish history. The only aspect of the Nazis’
fandom that may be at all usable from an AKP perspective to discredit
Ataturk via Hitler is the one dealing with the leader-figure Ataturk
and his monumental modernization project.

Today, when we look back at Kemalism in its first decades, we will
probably, with historical hindsight, want to stress its modernizing
foundations and its role as a midwife to democracy after World War II.

The more we know about the history of Turkey and the late Ottoman
Empire, the more we appreciate the many great things Ataturk did for
his country, many of them marvelous to the point of miraculous.

But we could also look at the darker sides of Kemalist rule and
remember how the opposition was dealt with, how there was no plural
democracy but a one-party system and how a small elite set the agenda
of the state, economy and society — without so much as checks, much
less balance. And it was precisely this the Nazis had focused on:
the first decades as a leader-led, one-party state nearly unbounded in
its zeal and scope for reforms. While the Nazis make for poor guides
when it comes to politics and morality, in their fandom of Ataturk,
they identified the birth defect of modern Turkey.

“Erdogan can run and scream all he wants; he is Ataturk’s kid.”

The recently — and Putinesquely — elected President Erdogan likes
to refer to his state as the “new Turkey,” just as Ataturk and his
Nazi admirers did. That by itself may not mean much, but the label
signifies the same: a Turkey that radically breaks with what was
before. Erdogan can run and scream all he wants; he is Ataturk’s kid.

His emancipation from Ataturk, however, means doing what the father
has done, with similar tools and perhaps even scope, “only” with a
modified goal. It is still modernization, and potentially radical
at that, but a more Islamic modernization. That by itself does not
have to be a bad thing — though we have yet to discover the full
implications of Erdogan’s vision. The problem is, as always with
mega-projects, how to get there.

Ataturk’s project did not ask the people beforehand, for example,
if they wanted to lose their language and their Ottoman-era dress.

Erdogan seems not to want to bother much with asking questions either,
and the envisaged refurbishment of the constitution, which may happen
later this year, could open the gates for a radical reconstruction
and redefinition of Turkey by the AKP.

Where did Ataturk’s mandate come from? It always leads back to the
Turkish war of independence, and also to the historical context in
which it was fought. Ataturk’s was a victory against the world’s
most powerful countries, which had grown accustomed to treating the
Ottoman Empire in a quasi-colonial fashion. They had threatened to
cut down Turkey to a miniature version of itself, both geographically
and politically. Ataturk won a war that seemed unwinnable, and for
the rest of his life could draw on this, his national and political
mandate. What Ataturk’s reformist frenzy did, however, was provide
a precedent for radical and, yes, un-democratic modernization.

Erdogan’s “Turkish war of independence” was the (real and imagined)
inclusion of those previously excluded from Kemalist mainstream Turkey,
as well as the enormous economic growth of the last decade. Is this
a mandate for a radical break with what was before? For a break with
democracy, the rule of law and an open society?

Despite Erdogan’s increasing conspiracy theory-driven rhetoric about
Turkey’s foreign enemies, today’s Turkey is not the Turkey of 1919 or
1923. We do not know yet what the AKP proposal for a new constitution
will look like. But one thing is for sure: Nobody should ever be
given Ataturk’s mandate again — if only because its potential scope
was utterly undemocratic.

Such a mandate requires an almost super-human self-constraint. And
in any case, Erdogan is no Islamic Ataturk anyway.

PRESIDENTIAL SPOKESMAN: DISCUSSIONS OF CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM UNDERWAY

POLITICS | 12.03.15 | 10:51

Photolure

President Serzh Sargsyan holding his right hand on the Republic of
Armenia Constitution and a Bible during his inauguration for the
second term on April 9, 2013.

RELATED NEWS

Changing Basic Law: Armenian leadership reaffirms plans for
constitutional reform

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan continues to have meetings with
representatives of the country’s political forces regarding the
planned constitutional reform, his spokesman told Tert.am on Wednesday.

“A new series of active discussions around the constitutional reform
will begin tomorrow [March 12],” said Arman Saghatelyan. “Information
regarding these discussions will be provided additionally.”

The constitutional reform concept calling for turning Armenia into
a parliamentary republic with a powerful prime minister and largely
ceremonial president was first unveiled in 2014. The Council of
Europe’s Venice Commission gave a generally positive assessment, saying
that the proposed changes would “strengthen democratic principles and
establish the necessary conditions for ensuring the rule of law and
respect for human rights.” At the same time, the commission noted that
the transition to a parliamentary republic requires “broad consensus
within society.”

Most opposition forces in Armenia, including the Prosperous Armenia
Party (PAP) led by tycoon Gagik Tsarukyan, questioned the need
for reforming the Basic Law, alleging that by the changes Sargsyan,
whose second and final presidential term ends in 2018, and his ruling
Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) are seeking to “perpetuate” their
power. The current head of state, however, has repeatedly pledged not
to seek a top government post after the end of his term in office if
the reform is carried out.

Amid protests staged by three opposition parties, including the PAP,
that raised more issues than just the constitutional reform President
Sargsyan late last year said he would take the final decision on the
constitutional reform concept in February-March 2015. RPA spokesman
Eduard Sharmazanov confirmed last week that the decision would be
presented to the public by the end of March.

The planned constitutional reform appeared to be the catalyst for
the dramatic showdown in February in which President Sargsyan and his
ruling RPA forced Tsarukyan to resign as PAP leader and quit politics.

It is yet unclear whether the PAP, many of whose members have been
renouncing their membership after Tsarukyan’s departure, will continue
to strongly oppose the current administration on the constitutional
reform issue.

At least one parliamentary minority party, the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation, has, in principle, backed the idea of turning Armenia into
a parliamentary republic through the change of the Constitution. The
other three minority factions in the Armenian parliament, including
the Armenian National Congress, Heritage and Orinats Yerkir, are
known to oppose the reform at least at this stage.

Parliament Speaker Galust Sahakyan, a senior member of the RPA, said
earlier this month that draft amendments to the Armenian Constitution
are likely to be put on a referendum as soon as next fall or in
early 2016.

DE-DOLLARIZATION WITHIN EEU IMPORTANT TO ARMENIA BECAUSE OF TIES WITH IRAN – EXPERT

YEREVAN, March 12. /ARKA/. Russian president Vladimir’s Putin
instruction to the central bank and the cabinet to consider the
issue of currency integration within the EEU implies that opinions
of Minsk, Astana and Yerevan shall be considered, political analyst
Sergey Shakaryants told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

It guarantees well enough that no rush decisions will be made,
Shakaryants said, as cited by Novosti-Armenia referring to RIA Novosti.

According to the analyst, Russian leaders make a decision based on
the fact that the Russian Federation and China, as well as China and
Kazakhstan have already decided to abandon dollar in their bilateral
payments. In February, Iran decided to trade with other countries in
any currency other than US dollar.

Russia and Kazakhstan have already taken the first steps to
de-dollarize their foreign trade, with their leading trade partners
outside the EEU in particular, Shakaryants said.

The new terms of trade and mutual payments will be soon even more
important to Yerevan than to some other EEU member states, due to
close trade and economic ties with Iran, the analyst said.

Yet, it is premature to say to what extent the four EEU member
countries are prepared for transition to a single currency, the expert
said. -0–

AMERICANA AT BRAND ISSUES APOLOGY TO ARMENIAN CART VENDORS

Wednesday, March 11th, 2015 | Posted by Contributor

The Americana at Brand

GLENDALE–The Americana at Brand issued an apology to Armenian cart
vendors after the shopping center’s management chose to bar them from
selling their merchandise saying that it was inappropriate.

“We would like to apologize to our cart tenants, Tina Chuldzhyan,
Alex Kodagolian and Armin Hariri, for the regrettable misunderstanding
regarding their cart’s merchandise,” the Americana at Brand posted
on the company’s Facebook page. “The cart tenant is more than welcome
to have its product in question displayed on the cart.”

On Monday, Asbarez published an article by Harut Saassounian, in his
regular “My Turn” column, in which the he reported on Americana’s
decision to ban the sale of Armenian Genocide-themed t-shirts.

“Three young Armenian entrepreneurs rented a cart last month at the
Americana — a large shopping-restaurant-theater complex in Glendale —
to sell T-shirts, hats, and other clothing items advertised on their
shop1915.com website.

After Americana’s leasing staff approved their merchandise, Tina
Chuldzhyan, Alex Kodagolian, and Armin Hariri (a rapper known as
‘R-Mean’) began selling their merchandise.

On February 12, the opening day of their business, the three Armenians
were unexpectedly told by Americana’s management to keep their cart
family-friendly and remove all pictures of protests. Even though there
were no pictures of any protests on the cart — just posters of people
wearing the T-shirts on sale — Chuldzhyan told The California Courier
that she immediately took down the posters to avoid any conflict
with Americana.

On Feb. 25, Americana issued an ultimatum telling Tina and her
two partners that within 24 hours they had to change the kind of
merchandise they were selling, claiming that there had been public
complaints about the ‘genocide’ clothing. Otherwise, they would have
three days to vacate the premises.

Fearing that they were on the verge of eviction, the three
entrepreneurs agreed not to display the Armenian T-shirts, and
sell them only if requested by a customer. Later that afternoon,
an Americana official reiterated that all clothing items with the
‘genocide’ theme had to be completely removed from the cart,” wrote
Sassounian.

GERMAN HISTORIAN SAYS THERE IS PROOF POPE BENEDICT XV TRIED TO STOP ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

09:48, 11 Mar 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Just before the world commemorates the 100th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide, well-known German historian Michael Hesemann
announced the discovery of 2000 pages of hitherto unpublished documents
on, what he calls “the greatest persecution of Christians in history”
in the Vatican Secret Archives.

In this in-depth analysis with ZENIT, the historian discusses his
findings, what’s often not realized about the Armenian genocide,
and its victims, items which he discusses in his new book.

He also speaks about the Holy Father’s recent visit to Turkey, why
he didn’t speak on the subject, and what people should realize about
the tragedy which happened then, and what’s happening now.

ZENIT: What compelled you to start going through the documents? What
did you feel you had uncovered?

Hesemann: Actually, I was fascinated by the Armenian genocide after
reading a letter written by the Cologne Archbishop–and I am from the
Archdiocese of Cologne-, Cardinal von Hartmann, who in 1913 wrote a
letter to the German Chancellor of the Reich requesting German support
to prevent a new Armenian Genocide after the withdrawal of the Russian
troops from Northeastern Turkey. And his words were very impressive.

He confirmed the Armenian genocide of 1915/1916 and compared it with
the early persecutions of Christians like the Diocletian persecution
of early 4th century.

He said because Germany was such a close ally to Turkey it would also
cause shame on the German name for future generations if it wouldn’t
do anything to stop it. I immediately realized how right he was and
that he was a voice of justice in the middle of this horrible World
War I. And then I asked myself: What did Germany do after World War
I and even today to tell the world what it knew about these horrible
events, just to prevent that history repeats itself – nothing indeed!

Then in 1939, Adolf Hitler met with his leading generals in his
“Berghof” near Berchtesgaden, his headquarters in the mountains, and
announced his plans for Poland: the completely recklessly slaughter
of the Polish elite and all the other atrocities. He ordered to
proceed with the utmost, merciless brutality, since “history is
always written by the victors’ and, anyway, “Who is talking about
the Armenian Genocide today?” So obviously the denial or the cover
up of the Armenian Genocide made Hitler’s brutality in Poland and
eventually the Holocaust possible? It seems so. If you do not tell
the story, history will always repeat itself. So I thought it was my
responsibility as a historian who has access to the Vatican Secret
Archives since 2008 to look for more documents. I became curious
and in some way fascinated by the subject. I wanted to know what
really happened.

So I found documents and documents and documents, more than 2000
pages, most of them never before published, researched, or evaluated
by any historian. Of course, I educated myself on any aspect of the
Genocide, read the works of all the leading contemporary historians
in this field like Kevorkian, Dadrian and others and just realized
that I am entering a brand new territory, adding a new aspect to
their important work. The sources we have on the Armenian Genocide
are, of course, the German documents, both coming from the officers
and diplomats stationed in the Ottoman Empire, which we find in the
Archives of the German foreign office. Another important stock were the
American diplomat’s reports and, of course, the brilliant report by the
American Ambassador in Constantinople, Henry Morgenthau. Of course we
also have intelligence reports from both the British and the French
and the reports of the Italian diplomats in Turkey. But the Vatican
documents are an excellent, first class new source of information.

ZENIT: Why did these massacres happen?

Hesemann: Well, the massacres happened after the Turks searched the
Armenian’s homes for weapons and used any weapon they found as an
“evidence” for a conspiracy or planned revolt, which, of course, was
nonsense – people on the countryside needed to have their guns for
self-defense. Then all men were arrested, tortured, lead outside the
towns or villages and were massacred. Well, how can you resettle the
people if you kill all the men? This is the end of future generations.

Without men, you can’t have families.

Then all the women, the elderly and the children were sent on foot
to the new destination, hundreds of miles through the mountainous
highlands of Anatolia, often enough with no food and water at all.

Sometimes they were not even allowed to drink from the rivers they
passed. They were raped and robbed, by mountain tribes, released
prisoners and their own police guards, and of the few which survived
those death marches – often enough only 5 percent – many were left
completely nude, dirty and ashamed, under the hot Turkish sun and in
the cold of the nights.

Still some 350,000 who arrived in the Syrian Desert were put into
concentrations camps, with no food and very little water and deadly
epidemics going around. And those who survived for another half a year
were sent on new death marches deeper into the desert or were just
massacred.So at the end, maybe a couple tens of thousands survived.

Many of them orphans. Benedict XV later donated two orphanages to
give at least some of them shelter.

If you read the eyewitness testimony, this is really heartbreaking.

You read even of nuns who were raped and all their clothes were
stolen. Many of them went mad afterward because they couldn’t handle
all these terrible experiences. Mothers threw their children into
gorges, into rivers, to kill them, so they wouldn’t have to suffer
as much as they suffered. Suicides were in the daily order.

For a couple of months, the populations of Mosul and other cities
were warned by the government, the Muslim population of course,
not to drink any water from the river because it was polluted by the
thousands of corpses which were drafting down the Euphrates and the
Tigris rivers. All of this is very well documented. But it is still
officially denied by the Turkish government.

ZENIT: Can you elaborate on this?

Hesemann: For example, if you read a book by the department of Tourism
of the Republic of Turkey “2,000 years of Turkish history”- a strange
title since Turkey has more than 5000 years of documented history – you
read the following quote: “The Ottoman government decided to immigrate
the Armenians who were involved in the uprising to a safer place,
namely Syria and Lebanon … The immigration process was carried out
in a successful way as most of the Armenians were safely transferred
to Syria”, you can only call this a cynical lie!

And as passionately, the Turkish government tries to do everything
to suppress the treatment of the Armenian genocide in the schoolbooks
of the free world, or to prevent recognition of the Armenian genocide
as genocide.

Of course, the term genocide can be discussed, but according to
the definition by the United Nations any mass killing of a group or
population, also if it is a religious group, is termed “genocide”.

Because in the end, Armenians weren’t killed because they were
Armenian, but because they were Christians. Armenian women were even
offered to be spared if they convert to Islam. They were then married
into Turkish households or sold on slave markets or taken as sex
slaves into brothels for Turkish soldiers, but at least they survived.

A whole group of Islamized Crypto-Armenians was created by this offer
to embrace Islam. But at least it shows that the Armenians were not
killed because they were Armenians, but because they were Christians,
and for the same reason the Syrian Christians were killed too.

ZENIT: So based on the statistics, how should it be considered?

Hesemann: It was both: A genocide by definition of the United Nations
and, at the same time, the greatest persecution of Christians in
history, when altogether 2.5 million were killed – 1.5 million
Armenians and about one million Syrian and Greek Christians.

ZENIT: What is your view on Pope Francis’ visit to Turkey and on how
he addressed the Armenian subject?

Hesemann: He was not the first Pope in history to speak about the
Armenian genocide because Benedict XV and John Paul II did so, too.

But I am very grateful that Pope Francis even before he became Pope,
in his book with Rabbi Skorka, for example, mentioned the Armenian
genocide. Even in the first months of his pontificate, in May 2013,
when he received one of the Armenian Patriarchs, he called the
events of 1915-1916 a genocide, which caused a lot of unrest and a
very unfriendly reaction from the Turkish side, as did John Paul
II’s remarks on the Armenian genocide did. So I am very grateful
that he continued the long row of Popes who openly spoke about the
Armenian genocide.

I was a little bit disappointed that he didn’t bring it up when he
met Erdogan because his visit took place on the eve of this year
commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. Then
again, he was a guest and he didn’t want to provoke an even more
hostile situation for the Christians, […] the still persecuted
Christian minority in Turkey. So from a diplomatic point of view,
he did the right thing.

ZENIT: Is the Holy Father doing anything in April to commemorate
the anniversary?

Hesemann: Yes, indeed. Pope Francis announced that on April 12 he will
celebrate Holy Mass in the Armenian rite in commemoration of what
happened 100 years ago. I hope that he will find clear words in his
homily on that occasion. And I hope that he will follow the invitation
of the Armenian president and the Armenian Patriarch Catholikos
Karekin II to come to Armenia. Even if he won’t come to Armenia on
the 24th of April, he might come later this year. Sometimes, truth
and solidarity with the martyrs are more important than diplomacy.

Everyone who reads the Vatican documents on the events of 1915/6
gets a very clear idea about what happened. Even Pope Benedict XV,
who was a very careful diplomat, stressing neutrality, wherever he
could, could not remain silent and protested three times, two times
in personal letters to the Sultan and one time in his speech during
a consistory. Indeed, his attempt to stop the Armenian genocide by
public protests is one of the most impressive examples in history
how the Vatican’s diplomacy tried everything humanly possible to
stand up for those persecuted brothers and sisters and save innocent
victims of one of the biggest crimes in history. At the same time,
it’s also a very frustrating example that Vatican diplomacy cannot
change the minds of fanatic ideologists who just demonstrated that
“conscience”and “compassion” are foreign words for them.

ZENIT: As we are now approaching the 100-year anniversary, is there
anything you think people should realize or take away in a way they
have not already?

Hesemann: One thing should be learned: Nobody should ever turn around
and look away if he hears about atrocities in any part of the world.

If you are ignorant today, you will bear the consequences tomorrow. So
it’s better to act and react now.

Hitler believed he was on the safe side, but he wasn’t. So I hope that
the atrocities of 100 years ago wake up Christians and responsible
people from the world of politics, of art, science, and moral [realms],
of all fields of life to look what is happening to Christians in the
same area today.

When I saw reports and videos of what is going on the ISIS controlled
areas, I had a deja vu. I have to admit that when I studied these
files, pictures, and everything from the Armenian genocide, I wondered
sometimes if some of my sources were not just exaggerating. It
sounded so unreal, all those atrocities, this violence, these
reports about crucifixions and mountains of skulls of decapitated
men and so on. And then all this happens in front of my eyes in the
news. So history repeats itself: If you don’t learn from history,
if you aren’t aware of what happened in the past, we allow people
to commit the crimes again. That is why every crime has to be
[prosecuted]. So that people learn that crimes don’t pay off. In
1915, the German chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg knew everything about
the Armenian genocide, since he received all those careful reports
from his diplomats. But he was not willing to stop the slaughter,
but, instead, declared: “We have to keep Turkey as an ally on our side
until the war is over, even if the Armenians perish over it.” Because
of this, Germany is guilty, too, of what it allowed to happen. Today,
we shall not follow Germany’s example and ignore what is happening
in order to not jeopardize diplomatic or trade relations. We should
stop ISIS and end the slaughter of Christians right now!

And finally: As a Catholic, I believe that everyone can be forgiven
if you confess your sins. But that is the first condition. I
don’t want any revenge or punishment for Turkey. Not at all. I want
reconciliation. Reconciliation between the Armenian and Turkish people,
but the condition for this, for forgiveness, is the truth. If I go
to confession and deny my sins, it is worthless and I won’t find
forgiveness. Forgiveness I will only find if I honestly confess what
truly happened. Only the truth can set us free!

The historical facts are so crystal clear. They are as clear as those
of the Holocaust, or any other event that you’d find in any history
book…so many documents, sources, clear statistics, clear evidence
that 1.5 million Armenians and another 1 million Syrian and Greek
Christians were murdered. You cannot deny it. You cannot excuse it.

You can only, and that it’s overdue, admit it. This is the first
step for reconciliation. Any historians looking at all the evidence
would come to the same conclusion of what happened, unless they were
being paid or put under pressure. But facing the evidence we have,
there’s no other conclusion possible. It was genocide. It was the
biggest persecution of Christians in history. If you still deny it,
you protect the perpetrators, you side up with murderers. And you
allow that it will happen again.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEUROMARKETING IN ARMENIA

Lragir.am
Business – 11 March 2015, 11:30

According to the economic models of decision making decision makers
choose between alternative courses of action by assessing the
desirability and likelihood of their consequences, and integrating
this information through some type of expectation-based calculus. Any
influence of incidental or intentionally encoded visual or sensitive
emotions would suggest that decisions are affected by factors unrelated
to the utility of their consequences, which can be beneficial or
destructive in the business world.

It is no longer a secret that far too much of what happens in the
process of communications occurs on the emotional level. No doubt in
today’s globalized and digitalized world people very often have the
ultimate need to control the outward expression of their uniquely felt
emotions in public because of professional reasons which may affect
both the corporate working environment and customer service – consumer
relations. Indeed, according to Arlie Hochschild (1983) there exist
certain professions, economics included, in which the main actors
at hand have to manage their emotions to sound proficient. Here,
the concept of Neuromarketing comes to the fore which indicates
that two important processes, marketing and emotions on the “neuro”
level are closely intertwined and that the needs and desires of the
customers are completely matched.

Dr. Anna Rostomyan, Osnabruck University, Fribourg University and
Yerevan State University graduate, holding a degree of Doctor of
Philosophy in Philology, whose dissertation is mainly devoted to
the linguo-cognitive analysis of verbal and non-verbal displays of
emotions and their management techniques, suggests in her studies on
Neuroeconomics and Neuromarketing that Emotional Marketing has started
to be greatly applicable in Armenia as well, by some of the leading
corporations and banks, especially “ARMECONOMBANK” OJSC. E.g. by
means of using the colour “blue” in their logo and other marketing
activities, the shade of ocean and cloudless sky, the marketing
specialists denote tranquility and peace of mind, and the colour
“green”, the symbol of grass, to ensure prosperity, the colour “white”
supposedly suggests purity and transparency which corresponds to the
needs of the customers. This strategy of a neurocolour logo edifice
and the overall neuromarketing strategy of the aforementioned bank
truly correspond to the high European standards.

Anna Rostomyan in her scientific article which will be published
in July 2015 in the United States of America in the internationally
peer-reviewed “Business and Economics” Journal factually asserts that
emotional branding or emotional marketing is not a negative concept,
but rather a positive one, which entails diverse meanings and suggests
to the decoding societal public how certain pieces of information
should be properly decoded; it mainly suggests what a specific brand
or product is like in reality.

In summary, we can state that business environment increasingly
grows rapidly developing where human capital and customers become the
mostly important factor for each and every organization. Hence, the
role of human emotions and their corresponding management techniques
gain paramount significance both in business and everyday personal
communication.

ZHAMANAK: COMPANY THAT PURCHASED AIR ARMENIA’S SHARES HAS FINANCIAL PROBLEMS

11:26 11/03/2015 >> DAILY PRESS

The company that purchased shares of Air Armenia airline has financial
problems. The air company is unlikely to resume flights in late March,
Zhamanak writes.

The English company East Prospect Fund has bought 49 percent of
the shares of Air Armenia. According to the newspaper, this company
planned to make investments after concluding a big transaction. But
it failed to carry out this transaction and therefore was unable to
make investments.

Source: Panorama.am

DIGGING INTO THE FUTURE: ARMENIA

ADMIN MARCH 10, 2015 ANCIENT ARMENIA, ARMENIAN ARCHAEOLOGY, ARMENIAN
DOCUMENTARY, ARMENIAN HISTORY, DIGGING INTO THE FUTURE: ARMENIA,
JOSEPH ROSENDO, TRAVELSCOPE LEAVE A

A fascinating new documentary explores Armenian archaeological sites.

An archaeological expedition is a journey of discovery and every
discovery begins with questions. The answers lie in the past and the
present — and a people’s cultural artifacts are the clues. Digging
into the Future: Armenia, is the pilot screener of a new archaeology
series from the Emmy-award winning producers of Joseph Rosendo’s
Travelscope.

Armenia is older than Christianity and within its ancient borders lies
Mt. Ararat, the final resting place of Noah’s ark, and although now
lost to Turkey, the 16,000-foot mountain still stands as a symbol
of Armenian persistence. The Armenian survival has been forged in
the furnaces of war and genocide and their centuries of struggle is
an integral part of their national identity, as is their language,
religion and cultural heritage. Host Joseph Rosendo criss-crosses
Armenia to ancient sites which offer insights into how the Armenians
of the distant and near past lived. From roadside fruit stands
to riverside wine stalls and bustling markets, Joseph is welcomed
into homes to witness traditional artisans and join in religious and
communal celebrations that inspire, enlighten and reveal the Armenian
heart and soul.

“ARMENIA IS NOT INVITED TO ASTANA NOT TO BARGAIN.” POLITICAL ANALYST

March 11 2015

Serzh Sargsyan’s attendance at the forthcoming meeting on March 12
and 13 in Astana with the presidents of the three founding members
of the Eurasian Union – Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, as political
analyst Stepan Safaryan is sure, was not beneficial to the founding
member countries of the Union. “Obviously, Belarus and Kazakhstan
would like to discuss the impact of the new sanctions provided for
against Moscow on their new economy. They will discuss the losses
caused to their economy that they suffer being Russia’s ally and
would try to gain benefit from Russia. In this respect, neither
Russia nor Belarus and Kazakhstan benefits from the attendance of
Armenia because one more bargainer will be added. It is beneficial
to everyone that these problems are discussed without Armenia,”
said Stepan Safaryan. In his words, as Armenia does not have much
weight in the EaEU project, they have left it out of their meetings
and show that it is a meeting that has nothing to do with the EaEU,
although the EaEU-related issues will be discussed. “It is not that
Armenia does not suffer for being dependent on Russia, but, as there
is no one to invite Armenia, these issues will be discussed by those,
who are able to put claims to each other.” Recall that Armenia’s deputy
FM Shavarsh Kocharyan explained the non-attendance of the Armenian side
by the fact of having no disagreements with the EaEU member states.

Arpine SIMONYAN

Read more at:

CONFERENCE ON GENOCIDES AND MUSLIM FUNDAMENTALISM TO BE HELD IN PRAGUE

16:34, 11 March, 2015

YEREVAN, MARCH 11, ARMENPRESS. Another conference in Prague’s Goethe
Institute on Wednesday will also discuss the genocide and the current
Islamic fundamentalism. It will be held under the aegis of the Armenian
embassy and the Italian Culture Institute in Prague. As reports
“Armenpress” citing Prague Daily Monitor, the major guests will be
Armenian ambassador to the Czech Republic Tigran Seyrajnyan and the
former Czech foreign ministers, Cyril Svoboda and Karel Schwarzenberg.

Previously it was reported that on March 9 the delegation led by the
Vice President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia
Eduard Sharmazanovtook part in the official opening of the exhibition
entitled “Armenian Genocide: Front Page Coverage in the World Press ”
held under the auspice of the Committee on Petitions of the Chamber
of Deputies of the Czech Republic in the Czech Museum of Music. The
Information and Public Relations Department of the National Assembly
of the Republic of Armenia informed “Armenpress” about this.

The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of
Armenia to the Czech Republic Tigran Seyranyan, the Spiritual Leader
of the Armenian Communities of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary
Barsegh Archimandrite Pilavchyan, the Spiritual Leader, the Archbishop
of Prague Cardinal Dominik Duka, the Vice President of the Chamber
of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic Jan Bartosek,
the Chair of the Committee of Petitions of the Chamber of Deputies
Zuzka Bebarova-Rujbrova and the Head of the Czech Republic-Armenia
Parliamentary Friendship Group Robin Bohnisch attended the opening
of the exhibition.

The NA Vice President Eduard Sharmazanov, t he RA Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Czech Republic Tigran
Seyranyan, as well as the representatives of the Czech side delivered
speeches.

The NA Vice President Eduard Sharmazanov awarded the Medal of
Honour of the RA National Assembly the spiritual leader of the
Czech Republic, Archbishop of Prague Cardinal Dominik Duka for
the strengthening of the friendly relations between the Armenian
and Czech peoples, the Chair of the Committee of Petitions of the
Czech Chamber of Deputies Zuzka Bebarova-Rujbrova for the significant
contribution to the reinforcement, development of the Armenian-Czech
inter-parliamentary ties and protection of human rights and the Head
of the Czech Republic-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group Robin
Bohnisch for the significant contribution to the strengthening and
development of the Armenian-Czech inter-parliamentary ties.

Let us note that t he deputy of the ARF Faction Artsvik Minasyan
and the Chief of Staff, General Secretary Hrayr Tovmasyan are in the
NA delegation.