Author: Kanayan Tamar

EXPERT: CURRENT YEAR MAY BE CRUCIAL FOR NAGORNO-KARABAKH PROCESS

Trend News Agency
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
June 1, 2011 Wednesday
Baku, Azerbaijan

June 01–JUNE 1 / , Azerbaijan, Baku — The current year may be crucial
for the Nagorno-Karabakh process, the expert at the Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace, English journalist and author of the book
“Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War” Thomas
de Waal said.

“I believe the announcement by the three presidents in Deauville was
the most significant declaration on the Karabakh conflict for many
years”, he told Trend.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan will meet in Kazan in late June.

This will be the ninth tripartite meeting between the presidents of
Azerbaijan, Russia and Armenia.

The meeting held in Sochi on March 5 was the eighth tripartite meeting
of the Presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia.

Astrakhan hosted a trilateral meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan,
Armenia and Russia — Ilham Aliyev, Dmitry Medvedev and Serzh Sargsyan
on Oct. 27. The parties signed a declaration envisaging the return
of POWs. It is of humanitarian nature.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group — Russia, France, and the U.S. —
are currently holding the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.

The Basic Principles document has now been under discussion for more
than five years and, as the presidents say, continued delay over
agreeing on a short framework agreement raises questions as to whether
the presidents are genuinely committed to a peaceful deal for Karabakh,
he said.

Russia, France and the United States obviously believe that the time
has come to move forward, the expert said. Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev, U.S President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas
Sarkozy called on the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders to demonstrate
the political will and to finalize the basic principles [the settlement
of the Nagorno-Karabakh] during the upcoming Armenian-Azerbaijani
summit in June.

This year could be crucial while there is agreement among the three
big nations and before an election cycle begins,” he said.

DEVELOPED STATES MUST FOLLOW ARMENIA’S EXAMPLE IN NUCLEAR POWER PLANT OPERATION – IAEA

news.am
June 2 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN. – Exploitation of the Armenian nuclear power plant may
be technically extended after 2016, said Gabor Vamos, head of
International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) team arrived in Armenia.

The world has examples of extension of operating NPPs with similar
reactors, he told journalists on Thursday.

However, he stressed that the question is not on the agenda of the
Armenian NPP. Vamos noted that operation of any nuclear power plant
is a risk, but in the case of Armenian NPP, this risk is acceptable.

The IAEA’s Operational Safety Review Team, consisting of 11 experts
from 8 countries, has monitored state of Armenian NPP’s equipment and
working processes. The experts also interviewed the NPP’s staff. They
gave recommendations on improvement of power plant’s work in six
directions.

However, Gabor Vamos expressed satisfaction with the work of the
Armenian NPP, stressing that other countries should follow Armenia’s
lead.

Head of IAEA’s team considers commendable the fact that Metsamor NPP
takes efforts to improve the safety of the plant on its own.

Meanwhile, special organizations are responsible for this work
in Europe.

Besides, Vamos noted that it was staff’s initiative to supplement a
three-level cooling system with the fourth one which increased safety
of the plant significantly.

MICHIGAN TO ARMENIA MEDICAL AID EFFORT GROWS

Published: Thursday June 02, 2011

L-R bottom row: Armen Topouzian, Bob Kachadourian, H. Manoogian.

Detroit – Since November 2009 to date a cadre made up of Bob
Kachadourian, Shakeh Basmadjian and Armen Topouzian, working together
with the local chapter of the Armenian Relief Society (ARS), have been
successful in collecting and sending to Armenia several containers
of medical equipment. Networking is the key to it all.

There are many relief organizations, charities and other entities
vying for the material that would help Armenia.

However, Bob Kachadourian finds a way to find out about it first. Then
he goes with Shakeh and Armen to see the potential usable items.

Bob can be found on the phone most any day on the phone, emailing,
faxing or doing whatever it takes to locate items that otherwise
wouldn’t find their way to a nation in need of medical equipment.

Then Shakeh and Armen arrange to have the equipment picked up often
going with Bob to meet the pick up crew. The items are packaged,
inventoried and put in a central location.

For example, along with with many medical tools, 60 hospital beds were
sent to Armenia in late 2009. The beds donated by Dr. Shukri David
of Providence Hospital, Southfield, MI., were observed by Shakeh,
already in use at a Mother’s Care Hospital in Armenia, while she
visited there several months ago.

This year numerous panoramic xray machines, dental tools and so many
related items were sent that they’re too numerous to list here. The
same could be said for optometric equipment.

We would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge the following faithful
volunteers. Hovaguim Manoogian, Levon Kesishian, Ralph Garabedian,
Ed Garabedian, Bob Jacobs, Thomas Arakelian, Ken Kezarjhian and others
behind the scenes who helped get the health care equipment on its way.

Bob, Shakeh and Armen take it all in stride. Anyone can do it they
all agree.

Bob states, “People must talk to their friends, relatives, physicians,
dentists and indeed call up suppliers of health care equipment”. He
adds, “Hospitals are another source”.

Bob goes beyond the Michigan area as well. Last year he contacted
UCLA Hospital through a relative of his wife.

Adrineh Poulatian was very helpful; through the local ARS office and
Shakeh many items were picked up.

The rest as they say is history. It just takes a little effort
to reflect about who we know to begin our own networking for aid
to Armenia.

Bob works tirelessly at any project that serves Armenia. From the
YMCA in Armenia, to fund raising for Baroness Cox and many projects
he’s been involved in over the years, passion is what describes Bob’s
commitment to whatever he does.

Yes, Bob, Shakeh and Armen know how to get it done with their
indispensable volunteers. However, it’s all about networking.

TURKISH MILITARY OFFICERS SENTENCED TO 6 MONTHS IN DINK CASE

June 2 2011
Turkey

A colonel and a captain of the Turkish gendarmerie have been sentenced
to 6 months in jail for misconduct in Hrant Dink case.

Eight suspects including Colonel Ali Oz, the then provincial
gendarmerie commander in the Black Sea province of Trabzon, and Captain
Metin Yildiz, chief of intelligence unit of provincial gendarmerie
command in Trabzon, were standing trial for failing to prevent the
killing of Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian journalist who was killed
in Istanbul in 2007.

Also, the Trabzon court ordered 4 months prison sentence for four
other gendarmerie officers. The court acquitted two others.

Dink, the editor-in-chief of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly
Agos, was shot dead outside the newspaper’s offices in Istanbul’s
Sisli neighborhood on January 19, 2007.

Police arrested the gunman Ogun Samast a day after the murder and a
suspected associate who was identified as Yasin Hayal. Hayal, together
with another suspected instigator Erhan Tuncel, was the man suspected
of giving the orders to Ogun Samast to murder journalist Hrant Dink.

Samast, Hayal and Tuncel were residents of Trabzon.

TURKISH NATIONALIST, PARTICIPANT OF KARABAKH WAR ARRESTED

news.am
June 2 2011
Armenia

A prominent Turkish nationalist Yusuf Ziya Arpacik was arrested
on charges of organizing a provocation at the rally of Nationalist
Movement Party to be held on June 6.

Turkish police arrested 17 people who intended to organize a
provocation at a campaign rally, Internethaber reports.

Yusuf Ziya Arpacik is a participant of Karabakh war. He was fighting
against Armenians in 1992. In 2003 he left for Iraq to fight against
Americans.

He is a member of ultra nationalist the Idealist Movement.

SPLIT ON FOREIGN POLICY DRIVE

Hurriyet
June 1 2011
Turkey

Foreign-policy perceptions in Turkey change from region to region,
with the biggest difference seen in the Kurdish-dominated Southeast,
according to a recent survey made public Wednesday in Istanbul.

Overall, 69 percent of those surveyed said they want Turkey to become
a European Union member, but this stance varied widely by region,
according to the report published by the Turkish Economic and Social
Studies Foundation, or TESEV. Ninety-one percent of respondents in
Southeast Anatolia said they want to see Turkey in the EU, followed by
87 percent in the country’s East. The Aegean region had third-highest
rate of support, with 74 percent.

In Central Anatolia, 58 percent of respondents said they favored
EU membership.

Respondents in the Southeast also had different opinions on the
relations between Turkey and the United States than did their
counterparts in other countries.

Fifty-two percent of all respondents said the approach of the United
States is not friendly toward Turkey, an opinion only 39 percent held
in the Southeast. Forty-one percent of those surveyed in the Southeast,
compared to 27 percent overall, said they found the U.S.

approach toward Turkey to be friendly.

Regional differentiations were also observed on reconciliation with
Armenia, with 60 percent in Turkey’s Black Sea region objecting
to establishing diplomatic ties with Armenia and opening the border
between the neighboring countries. Overall disapproval of establishing
diplomatic ties was measured at 44 percent.

The survey showed conflicting results when it comes to the United
States, which ranked second after Israel (40 percent) on the list of
countries with a hostile attitude toward Turkey. The United States,
however, also ranked third on the list of countries with a friendly
approach toward Turkey. Fifty-three percent of those surveyed said
the see the future of Turkish-U.S. relations as positive.

The high rate of support for Turkey’s EU bid and the outlook on
Turkish-U.S. relations were interpreted by analysts who worked on
the report as refuting claims that Turkey’s axis is shifting away
from the West.

“The results reveal that Turkish society is not emotionally distancing
itself from the concept called the ‘West,'” the report said.

Overall, Turkish foreign policy received a 65 percent approval rate.

Twenty-five percent said they believe the prime minister is the most
important person or institution in foreign-policy decision-making,
while 25 percent said it is the Foreign Ministry. Only 1 percent said
the citizens are influential in decision-making.

The results show that Turkish society has endorsed peaceful measures
that have come to the forefront in the country’s policies, said Mensur
Akgun, one of the contributors to the survey.

A low rate of 8 percent of respondents said they believe Turkish
Cyprus should become part of Turkey, while 22 percent want a peaceful
solution based on consensus to the Cyprus issue. Fifty percent
support Turkish-Armenian reconciliation, while 34 percent said the
current situation between Turkey and Israel is hurting the interests
of both countries.

Fifty-four percent of those surveyed said they are interested in
foreign policy. Eighty-eight percent said they get their information
on foreign policy from television, followed by newspapers, with 28
percent, and the Internet, with 12 percent.

BAIRAMIAN: A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY
By: William Bairamian

Thu, Jun 2 2011

The United States is a big country, and it has Armenians strewn across
every single state.

Despite the strength of Armenian Americans on the national political
stage, there aren’t any events that allow all politically motivated
members of the community to congregate in one place to discuss the
future of our efforts-except one. The ANCA Leadership Conference,
hosted by the ANCA National Headquarters is the only such event.

It is the premiere occasion event where Armenian American activists
can gather to learn about the challenges the Armenian Cause faces
and an opportunity for them to discuss, face to face, ways to improve
the approach to our work.

In the past half century, a lot has changed for Armenians. An
independent Armenian state was founded. An historic Armenian land
was fought for and regained by the brave sons and daughters of the
Armenian nation. The Armenian Genocide went from the brink of being
forgotten in many places and denied in others to being discussed on
the international stage, with nary a serious denier to be found today.

These developments didn’t happen by accident-activists made them
happen. Whether they were declaring independence in Armenia, fighting
for independence in Artsakh, or bringing the issue of justice for the
Armenian Genocide to the fore, activists were the ones who accepted
the personality responsibility of advancing the Armenian Cause.

Now, as the Cause has reached a crossroads, active and powerful but
facing resurgent enemies with financial resources greater than that
of all Armenians combined, it must change to adapt to the current
environment. That’s why the ANCA has entitled this year’s Leadership
Conference “Armenian Cause 2.0.”

It’s all about the direction to take, learning from the great successes
and the occasional shortcomings, while using the community’s potential
resources-financial, human and, especially, technological-to forcefully
promote the Cause and to unapologetically stand up for what’s right.

This conference is for every Armenian American. The decisions made in
Congress are affected by constituents on the ground in their districts
and those decisions in turn affect everyone. We as a community must
be better prepared to confront the challenges that we will undoubtedly
face in the near and distant futures.

We have been fortunate to have dedicated leaders, activists, and
benefactors to clear the path over the past decades. Now, with a
large, more widely educated, and better integrated Diaspora, we have
to seize the power that is ours for the taking. There is no better way
to learn how to do this than to hear it from the seasoned veterans
of the Armenian Cause while meeting the new generation of leaders
who will carry the mantle for the coming many decades.

Do not wait for next time. Armenia can’t wait. Arstakh can’t wait.

Javakhk can’t wait. Justice for the Genocide can’t wait. Go to
Washington, DC and come back to your community with a renewed vigor and
the skills necessary to take the Armenian Cause to the next level-2.0.

To read more about the conference and to register, click here.

BARCAMP YEREVAN 2011 IS COMING

hetq
15:51, June 2, 2011

About 500 IT specialists, engineers, developers, bloggers, online
journalists and social media activists will gather on June 4-5 to
participate at «BarCamp Yerevan 2011» unofficial conference.

At the Paramaz Avedisian building of the American University
of Armenia, the participants will discuss the development of
technologies and social media in the region and world. BarCamp is
a brand new event, originating in the Silicon Valley of USA in 2005
that has become widespread throughout the world. BarCamp is usually a
~Snon-conference~T in the sphere of information technology or ~SIT,~T
new media and Internet.

A ~Snon-conference~T is the unofficial, informal part of the conference
supporting open discussions and a free exchange of ideas and opinions.
The philosophy of BarCamp is the following: all presentations are
given by participants themselves, with no formally invited guest
speakers and without the formality of traditional conference.

Most revealing, the schedule of events is ~Sproduced~T by the
participants of the conference and is formed only after the conference
opens, as participants add the presentations they want to hold on a
white board. Sponsors and supporters of the «BarCamp Yerevan 2011» are
Beeline, Internews in the framework of the «Alternative Resources in
Media» program supported by USAID, Opera Software, Deem Communications
and PanARMENIAN.Net.

“THE JERUSALEM POST”: “IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO DENY HISTORICAL FACTS ON THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE”

ARMENPRESS
JUNE 1 2011
YEREVAN

Despite the Turks’ denial policy, it is impossible to deny the
historical facts on the Armenian Genocide. Armenpress reports citing
“The Jerusalem Post” that Rebecca Anna Stoil, editor of the newspaper,
stated today in her article on the international recognition of the
Armenian Genocide.

“If it is difficult for us to forgive the peoples, which ignore our
tragedy, we cannot ignore the tragedy of another nation: it is our
moral debt both as human beings and Jews,” Rebecca Stoil noted. “For
years the Israeli governments following each other rejected the
recognition of the Armenian Genocide motivating it with the issue of
the relations with Ankara; however this time the Government did not
suspend the discussion of the issue,” the editor wrote.

THE PAST AND PRESENT OF THE ARMENIAN TYPOGRAPHY

Noyan Tapan

02.06.2011

(Noyan Tapan – 02.06.2011) In the National Library of Armenia, the
two-day conference titled ~SThe past and present of the Armenian
typography~T was summarized. The conference was dedicated to the
500th anniversary of the Armenian typography. Welcoming the people the
director of the library and the head of the conference Rafik Khazaryan
happily mentioned that it was the first time that representatives
of the young generation also made speeches at the conference. ~SIt
is pleasant, that young people study the history of the Armenian
typography~T, noted R. Khazaryan.

The cultural figures of the Armenian Diaspora Perch Terzyan (Egypt)
and Jirayr Danielyan (Lebanon) were also present at the conference.

Not only the specialists of RA National Gallery made reports,
but also famous specialists, philologists, literary critics and
those who study this sphere, nearly 20 persons. They represented
the history and the present of the Armenian typography. The vice
director of M. Abekhyan Literature Institute Vardan Devrikyan made a
detailed speech on ~SImages of Holy Echmiatsin in the engravings of
the Armenian ancient book~T.

The speech made by playwright Bakhtiar Hovakimyan was about the role
of the Armenian typography in the activation of theatre life.

The head of the subdivision of the bibliography of Armenian Book and
Diaspora press of RA National Library Ofelya Gyulumyan made a speech
about the history of the Armenian typography of Constantinople during
20s of the 20th century.

The first sitting of the conference was summed up by the speech made
by Turkologist Hasmik Stepanyan. She spoke about the Turkish literature
written in the Armenian letters.

The second sitting of the conference was opened by the speech
of the member of “The National Centre for Armenian Studies” NGO
Arpine Simonyan. She introduced the engravings and decoration art of
publications by Tovma Vanandetsy. A. Simonyan mentioned that T.

Vanavdetsy’s books there is a system of illustration which includes
thematic images.

Then the head of RA National Assembly’s Ancient, Unique and Archival
Literature Department Melanyan Karapetyan made a speech about the
ancient period of the Armenian-Indian typography. According to her,
in the 18th century, three Armenian prints: Hakob Shahamiryan, priest
Harutyun Shmavonyan (Madras) and priest Hovsep Stepanyan (Kalkata)
existed and worked in India.

The speech of the Academic Secretary of Khnko Aper National Childish
Library Gayane Karapetyan referred to the origination of the Armenian
typography and the pole of libraries in book history.

The Candidate of Philological Sciences Aytsemik Korkotyan spoke
about the Armenian typography in Holland. She divided the history
of the Armenian typography in Holland into three periods: the first
period is the origination of printing in 1660-1666, the second period
referred to the Voskanyan printing during 1666-1670, and finally the
third period referred to Vanandian people printing, in 1685-1717.

The work of the conference continued on June 1. This time politician
Ruben Galchyan, the representative of American University in Armenia
Merujan Karapetyan, colleges of RA National Library and Masters of
“The National Centre for Armenian Studies” NGO introduced the Armenian
Mapping in 17th and 19th centuries, Armenian book of the newest era,
“Azatamart” Daily as an annalist of the life of Western Armenians and
the Information about the Armenian typography put in the Internet. For
example, the student of Master’s Degree of “The National Centre
for Armenian Studies” NGO analyzed the “Terunakan series” in Voskan
Erevantsy’s publications.

Summing up the conference the vice director of RA NL R. Khazaryan
noted that by this step the National Library wished to fix the
attention of all the stratus of our society on the 500th anniversary
of the Armenian Typography. The National Library will organize such a
conference in the autumn of this year too. It was suggested to print
all the reports made during the conference in a book. The president
of “The National Centre for Armenian Studies” NGO Gevorg Nersisyan
promised to cover all the financial expenses.

Soon the reports will be posted of the website of the National Library
of Armenia: