Author: Kanayan Tamar

Panorama, Armenia
July 30 2011

The fate of Vardavar is marked in Armenia July 31

Tomorrow the fate of Vartavar is marked in Armenia. Vartavar (also
known as Vardavar) is a festival in Armenia where people of all ages
drench each other with water. Its name is a derivative from `vard’ in
Armenian, which stands for `rose’ in English.

Although now a Christian tradition, Vardavar’s history dates back to
pagan times.

Vardavar is currently celebrated 98 days (14 weeks) after Easter.
During the day of Vardevar, people from a wide array of ages are
allowed to douse strangers with water. It is common to see people
pouring buckets of water from balconies on unsuspecting people walking
below them. The festival is very popular among children as it is one
day where they can get away with pulling pranks. It is also a means of
refreshment on the usually hot and dry summer days of July.

news.am, Armenia
July 30 2011

Russia makes relevant steps to contribute to Karabakh conflict settlement

July 30, 2011 | 14:34

“Preserving stability in the Caucasus is of crucial importance to
Russia,” reads the comment of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev,
issued in a special publication of The Business Year-Azerbaijan 2011
magazine, dedicated to 20th anniversary of independence of Azerbaijan,
reports 1news.az.

According to Medvedev, the decision on extension of Russian military
base in Armenia belongs to this context.

“The military base is designed to ensure peace and order, maintain
stability and reduce the complexity that we have today”, said Russian
president.

He also referred to mediation mission Moscow is playing in the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“The frequency of meetings between the presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan with my participation reached a historic height. Not so
long ago, speaking on the topic, I noted that I am not ashamed of our
work. There were important discussions, when the parties stressed the
presence of a number of difficulties in the process,’ Medvedev noted.
“In any case, these efforts give certain result and negotiations
continue.”

According to Medvedev, the intensity of these contacts should not be reduced.

“Russia is ready to take responsibility under OSCE Minsk Group. Its
moral duty towards the neighboring countries is to continue dialogue
on this issue,” said Medvedev.

Armenian Fine Arts at Swiss exhibition hall

Aysor.am
Saturday,July 30

On July 28 in the frameworks of the RA 20th anniversary of
Independence day in one of the exhibition halls of Locarno city in
Switzerland will take place the opening ceremony of exhibition of two
young Armenian modern artists Arevik Lazarian and Anna Harutyunyan.

The exhibition has been organized by the education, culture and sport
department of Ticino, as well as by the initiation of the RA Embassy
to Switzerland, etc.

The address of the Armenian ambassador to Switzerland, Charles
Aznavour, was read on the opening ceremony.

The organizers of the event made speeches noting the uniqueness of the
Armenian culture.

The exhibition of the representatives of the Armenian Modern Art will
be open in Locarno tikk October 28, 2011.

Presentation of films is organized to be held in Locarno on August 25
dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Armenian Independence and the
Armenian culture. On October 8 Armenian traditional cuisine will be
presented, informs the RA MFA press, information and public relations
center.

The Advantage of Accession for Life

Mher Arshakyan

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 16:31:47 – 30/07/2011

Why is the accession to the throne of Catholicos for life? Because he
is the representative of God, and it can’t be temporary. They are
temporary as a mortal, not as a living person. This is the way it is.
And God is not present in this way, there is only a human
understanding.

The existence of the church and the presumption of power it has is
that God exists, and the Catholicos is God’s representative. The
Catholicos is, to some extent, a supermortal. So it is impossible to
dethrone him. But if accession to throne is referred to God, why
should dethronement bypass God? If the Catholicos himself bypasses
God, who are to judge what boundaries of morality the Catholicos has
trespassed? Generally, who are to judge?

I know that the church is a purely human structure, it is the door of
human understanding, to enter this door does not mean to enter God’s
door, it means to enter, bearing God in you, because after leaving you
don’t leave behind God. Besides, the church reminds that everything
must become a church, even the mass media, which gladly judges others’
mistakes. If you, bearing the church in you, can see that the leader
of the church does not suit his throne to which he was accepted for
life, it’s not you business to demand that he should be dethroned
because you are not his herd, even if he is your pastor. Pastorship is
assigned to man by God from the moment when God says the word to man,
so the Catholicos is, at best, the door to your pastorship as long as
there is no God. But as long as there is no God, the Catholicos does
not have the power to be the pastor. So, it is assigned to man to be a
black sheep rather than a pastor. Black sheep are not judged.

Why does this posturing of the Catholicos – coalescence with the
authorities, lack of respect in talking to an elderly man, the desire
to have a palace in Yerevan – arouse so many questions? Because the
Catholicos has come down to the street and does things that each of us
would do, after all, mortals don’t have to live an ascetic life, they
have a family, they are tempted to gain wealth. Mortals wish they were
those who benefit from unlawfulness. Their indignation is kindled by
the Catholicos’ urge to answer the concerns voiced about him. And the
problem is not that he should not answer. The answer must be per se.
What does the unity of the Armenian people and the church have to do
with concerns about one man? What shall we do if these concerns are
there, even though sometimes they go beyond ethic? And why can’t these
concerns sound in the framework of the unity of the nation and the
church? Generally, what does this suggested unity have to do with
objective concerns?

The Catholicos should know the advantages of accession to the throne
for life. And these advantages say – your activity is entirely
impersonal, your acts are first of all visible to God, the only
addressee of your acts is God, act as if you are accountable to God
and not to someone who would view your behavior as harmful. A
Catholicos differs from a king because he can’t have a problem of
personal welfare because a king’s welfare is also his family’s
welfare. You are free from these conventionalities. And you must also
keep your married priests from conventionalities because they are to
comfort us, not we them.

The source of your overly kind treatment of the authorities is visible
in the fear of losing something? What do you have to lose, what
connects you to them that may make this loss significant? Why don’t
you think that the government is erroneous and so needs you for
sobering kindness? Either you are aware of the weakness of your power
or unaware of the power of this government. You have weakened your
power, and thereby strengthened the government. You are overly
dependent on what is temporal, just like the government.

What can they do to you? This is what the society needs to understand.
They need to know when and why to back you. Your power is for life,
isn’t it? After all, knowing that these authorities are capable of
much, you are afraid of being overly mortal. Why should the society
think that the church will benefit from its kindness toward the
government, even if it’s not so? Why do you force the society to
thrust into its erroneousness, who do you leave those entitled to be
the church in the status of the herd if they can help you strengthen
the church in Armenia and in the Diaspora?

Turkish military top brass sacked to prevent political crisis

July 30, 2011 – 16:58 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The resignation of Chief of Staff of Turkish Armed
Forces Ishik Koshaner is a planned action of the Turkish authorities
to prevent the beginning of possible political crisis, Trend cites
Turkish political analyst Ismail Yasha as saying.

“The representatives of the highest ranks of the Turkish army have
recently made a lot of faults,” he told Trend over phone. “In
particular, they interfered in the investigation on the overthrow of
the power in the country.”

Yesterday, Chief of Staff of Turkish Armed Forces Ishik Koshaner
resigned after a meeting in private with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan. As reported by the Turkish media, Erdogan wanted to Koshaner
retired. In response, Koshaner resigned.

Along with Koshaner other three Land, Naval, Air Armed Forces
Generals, Erdal Jeylanoghlu, Hasan Aksay, Ughur Yighit asked for
retirements as well, local media reported.

The expert said that Koshaner’s resignation was inevitable after 13
soldiers of the Turkish army were killed while clashing with Kurdish
rebels.

“This case shows that the Turkish army needs reorganizing,” he said.

Separatist Kurdish rebels killed 13 Turkish soldiers and wounded six
others on July 14 in Diyarbakir province.

The case on investigating the details of the incident was transferred
from the army to the police according to the governmental decree. The
expert also thinks that after Koshaner’s resignation, the ruling
Justice and Development Party’s positions will be strengthened.

“The differences between the army and the government after the
“Sledgehammer” plan could lead to chaos in the country,” the expert
said. “After Koshaner’s resignation, the ruling Justice and
Development Party’s positions will be strengthened and there will be
no threat of chaos.”

According to the pro-governmental newspaper Taraf’s assumptions,
Turkish Armed Forces prepared the “Sledgehammer” plan to overthrow the
government in 2010.

The expert also stressed that no political crisis is expected to occur
in Turkey in connection with Koshaner’s resignation, as the population
of the country welcomes the resignation of Chief of Staff of Turkish
Armed Forces.

“The people welcome the beginning of reorganizing the Turkish army,” he said.

FIFA separates Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2014 World Cup draw
30.07.2011 16:24

Ruzan Khachatryan
`Radiour’

The Preliminary Draw for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil’ will take
place in Rio de Janeiro at 11 p.m. Yerevan time. Each confederation
will have their qualifying groups and schedules drawn as teams learn
their path to the World Cup.

European qualifying remains the same with eight groups of six and one
group of five teams each playing a round robin. The matches will be
played from September 7, 2012 through October 15, 2013 and the nine
group winners will qualify for the 2014 World Cup. The eight best
second-place teams will advance to play in four two-legged playoffs
against each other with the winners of those playoffs also qualifying
for the World Cup.

The preliminary draw will determine the nine groups for the qualifying
stage. The teams are placed into six pots of nine based on the FIFA
rankings. The top nine times will be in Pot 1, the next nine teams in
Pot 2, etc., to ensure that the top teams are not in the same group.
The draw for the two-legged playoffs will be held at a later date.

FIFA is trying to limit political clashes in the 2014 World Cup
qualifiers by separating Russia-Georgia and Armenia-Azerbaijan in the
European draw, the Associated Press reports.

The governing body says it honored a request by European soccer
authorities to keep the former warring neighbors apart. The teams were
also kept separate in the 2012 European Championship qualifiers.

Armenia and Azerbaijan were drawn together in Euro 2008 qualifying but
the matches were never played.

AVIATION CIVILE
Les nouvelles tenues des hôtesses d’« Armavia »

Les hôtesses de la compagnie arménienne d’aviation civile « Armavia »
disposent désormais de nouvelles tenues. Ces dernières sont de couleur
grise avec des foulards bleu-ciel. Les nouvelles tenues sont selon la
direction d’« Armavia » « plus modernes ». Les hôtesses de l’air d’«
Armavia » porteront ces nouvelles tenues qui disposent des variantes
pour l’été, la demi-saison et l’hiver.

Krikor Amirzayan

samedi 30 juillet 2011,
Krikor [email protected]

ANKARA
La tête de l’armée turque décapitée

Le général Isik Kosaner et le président Abdulah Gül

De Burak AKINCI (AFP) –

ANKARA – Le chef d’état-major turc ainsi que les commandants des
armées de terre, air et mer ont démissionné sur fond de désaccord avec
le gouvernement islamo-conservateur sur la promotion de militaires de
haut rang incarcérés dans des affaires de conspiration. On ignorait
encore la raison officielle de ce départ collectif, mais les médias
turcs ont évoqué des tensions entre la direction militaire et le
gouvernement du Premier ministre Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Les divergences
porteraient sur la promotion de généraux incarcérés pour implication
supposée dans des complots antigouvernementaux. L’armée turque,
autrefois intouchable, est devenue la cible de critiques, dont celle
de complot présumé visant à renverser le gouvernement de M. Erdogan,
dont le parti de la justice et du développement (AKP) est issu de la
mouvance islamiste. Le gouvernement n’a pas réagi réagi à ces départs
collectifs. Depuis 1960, l’armée turque a renversé quatre
gouvernements, dont celui, en 1997, de l’islamiste Necmettin Erbakan,
mentor de l’actuel Premier ministre. Plusieurs réunions se sont
déroulées ces derniers jours entre le chef d’état-major, le général
Isik Kosaner, et M. Erdogan avant une réunion la semaine prochaine du
Conseil militaire suprême (YAS) qui décide des nominations dans la
hiérarchie militaire. Outre le général Kosaner, les commandants des
armées de terre, air et mer ont quitté leur poste, ce qui constitue
une première en Turquie, pays membre de l’Otan, ont indiqué les
chaînes d’information NTV et CNN-Türk.

L’agence semi-officielle Anatolie a précisé de son côté que le chef
d’état-major et ses commandants avaient demandé un départ anticipé à
la retraite. Le chef d’Etat Abdullah Gül, commandant suprême de
l’armée selon la Constitution, a reçu dans la soirée M. Erdogan et le
commandant de la gendarmerie, le général Necdet Özel. Ce dernier est
pressenti pour devenir le prochain chef d’état-major, selon les
spécialistes. Quarante-deux généraux et plusieurs dizaines d’officiers
d’active ou à la retraite sont actuellement incarcérés dans le cadre
de complots présumés visant à renverser le gouvernement du parti de la
justice et du développement (AKP).

L’armée souhaiterait que ces militaires puissent a priori bénéficier
d’une promotion, même s’ils sont en prison dans l’attente de la fin de
leur procès, tandis que le gouvernement voudrait qu’ils partent en
retraite. Parmi eux se trouve un général quatre étoiles qui était
censé devenir le prochain commandant de l’aviation.

La décision des généraux de quitter leur poste est symbolique en
Turquie où l’armée a été affaiblie depuis 2007 avec le lancement de
plusieurs enquêtes sur des projets de complots qui auraient visé à
déstabiliser le gouvernement par le biais d’un coup d’Etat militaire.

L’arrivée en 2002 au gouvernement de l’AKP, qui a remporté une
troisième victoire législative en juin, avait fait redouter à une
partie de l’opinion et à l’armée une remise en cause de la laïcité.

Le général Kosaner avait été nommé pour trois ans en 2010. Les trois
autres commandants devaient partir fin août à la retraite. L’an
dernier, s’appuyant sur l’offensive judiciaire anti-complot, les
membres civils du YAS, en particulier le Premier ministre, avaient
bousculé la routine habituelle des promotions. Ils avaient refusé de
promouvoir ceux d’entre eux qui sont impliqués dans des affaires de
complot, ce qui avait entraîné un retard inhabituel dans la nomination
du chef d’état-major actuel.

L’AKP s’est confronté plusieurs fois à l’armée turque depuis qu’il a
pris les rênes du pays dans le but de vouloir réduire son influence
dans la vie politique et à chaque fois réussi à remporter la bataille.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. Tous droits réservés

samedi 30 juillet 2011,
Jean [email protected]

HAUT KARABAGH
Un soldat Arménien tué hier matin

Hier matin à 6h45 un soldat arménien appartenant à la compagnie “N” a
été mortellement blessé. Le ministère de la Défense de la République
du Haut Karabagh annonce la mort du soldat Edouard Alaverdian (23 ans)
qui aurait reçu sur sa position au front, une balle mortelle. Le
ministère de la Défense mène l’enquête pour déterminer les conditions
dans lesquelles E. Alaverdian a été tué.

Krikor Amirzayan

samedi 30 juillet 2011,
Krikor [email protected]

The Daily Gleaner (New Brunswick)
July 29, 2011 Friday

Azerbaijani ambassador eyes N.B. partnerships

by MICHAEL STAPLES [email protected]

Bilateral trade and investment opportunities are priorities for Farid
Shafiyev as he wraps up a two-day official visit to Fredericton.

The ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan said he would like to see
opportunities in construction, energy and agriculture explored and
developed over the coming months and years.

“I think the visits of businesspeople and government people from
Azerbaijan and vice-versa can help,” Shafiyev said in an interview.

The ambassador said New Brunswick is one of his country’s largest
trade partners, especially when it comes to energy.

In 2010, New Brunswick companies purchased around $300 million worth
of oil from Azerbaijan, $500 million in 2009 and about $1 billion in
2008, he said.

But while energy may be the main engine of Azerbaijan’s economy,
Shafiyev said, his government has also identified agriculture as a
priority, and that’s where New Brunswick comes in.

“I am trying to explore any opportunity on how Azerbaijan can enlarge
(and) enhance its capacity in agriculture and how New Brunswick comes
into that picture.”

Potato seeds and how the starchy tubers are grown are of particular
interest to his country, the ambassador said.

During his visit, Shafiyev visited the provincial Department of
Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries’ Plant Propagation Centre,
which, among other things, produces nuclear stock plantlets and
microtubers, the basis for New Brunswick’s seed potato industry.

Shafiyev said he isn’t looking to sign any agreements at this time and
is instead viewing his visit as a “reconnaissance mission.”

In the future, he said, he’s hopeful that either he or other officials
will return and explore matters further.

During his visit, Shafiyev met with both Agriculture, Aquaculture and
Fisheries Minister Michael Olscamp and Energy Minister Craig Leonard.

“The minister and the ambassador … had a great discussion about our
respective energy sectors,” Energy Department spokesman Brent Staeben
said.

“Azerbaijan is an increasingly significant oil and gas producer and
has outperformed other former Soviet states in economic growth since
their independence from the Soviet Union and New Brunswick is a
customer … On energy issues, the ambassador was interested in our
energy efficiency program and alternative energy experiences.”

With regard to investment, Shafiyev said there are huge opportunities
available in both directions.

Shafiyev said Azerbaijan – bordered by Russia to the north, Georgia to
the northwest and Armenia to the west – has had an oil fund since
1999.

While its purpose is to save money for future generations, it’s also
being used for different investments abroad.

“For the past three or four years Azerbaijan has invested in different
projects in surrounding countries – Georgia, Turkey, Moldova,” he
said.

“But in the future, it might make investment in other countries. I see
in Canada, there is huge potential for that and is very stable from an
economic and financial point of view.”