Author: Kanayan Tamar

Azerbaijan shells Armenian border villages

14:04 * 13.12.14

Azerbaijan’s armed forces targeted several border villages of
Armenia’s north-eastern region of Tavush overnight, firing bullets in
different directions.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense says that the Armenian
border troops managed to take a prompt action to silence the
adversary. “The Armenian side reacted to the gunshots,” Artsrun
Hovhannisyan told Tert.am.

On Saturday morning, the Azerbaijani forces were reported to have
released sniper gunfire against the village Berkeber (Tavush region),
leaving one resident injured.

ARMENIE-TOURISME
Les hôtels de Dzargatsor affichent complet pour les fêtes de fin d’année

Selon Hagop Hagopian le président de l’association des Hôteliers
d’Arménie, cette année l’Arménie a enregistré une hausse sensible du
tourisme et de la fréquentation des hôtels. > dit H. Hagopian en précisant que durant l’année 550
nouvelles chambres furent mises sur le marché hôtelier et l’an
prochain ce chiffre sera complété par 300 chambres supplémentaires. Il
a également fait le constat d’une croissance régulière de la
fréquentation des hôtels pour les fêtes du Nouvel an.

OSCE MINSK GROUP: TO BE OR NOT TO BE?

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Dec 12 2014

12 December 2014, 10:00 (GMT+04:00)
By Sara Rajabova

Continuing tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as frequent
ceasefire violations on the contact line has rendered efforts of
international mediators to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict even
more difficult.

Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. through the OSCE
Minsk Group, are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by
the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles. However,
the negotiations have been fruitless so far despite the efforts of
the co-chair countries over 20 years.

Following recent developments, namely the Armenian provocative moves
and sabotages, and the downing of a helicopter by the Azerbaijani army,
have negatively impacted the negotiation process.

Some experts are questioning the effectiveness of the OSCE Minsk Group,
saying it has lost its reputation as a mediating institution and even
hoped to replace it with another mechanism.

However, Aydin Mirzazade, MP and deputy chairman of Azerbaijani
parliament’s security and defense committee believes that the Minsk
Group hasn’t lost it efficiency.

“The Minsk Group is not a separate stand-alone institution. It is a
mechanism of action of the three influential countries of world to
solve the problem,” Mirzazade told AzerNews.

He said the existence of this mechanism is a very unique event in
the world because there is no such a mechanism in such conflicts.

Mirzazade noted that it is another question that there are many
expectations from this organization regarding the peaceful settlement
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“We are in favor of joining efforts of the United States, France
and Russia and impact on Armenia for its pull out from Azerbaijan’s
occupied territories. In this respect, the world has already started
to look to this issue through the eyes of Azerbaijan and defend
its position. This is in itself an image of new idea in the world
regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh problem,” Mirzazade said.

On the other hand, some exerts still consider the activity of the
Minsk Group as inactivity.

Elman Nasirov, political expert and Director of the Institute of
Political Studies of the Academy of Public Administration under the
president of Azerbaijan said despite the Minsk Group has been engaged
as a mediator in the conflict resolution, it can boast with only one
thing: not with result, but with prevention of conflict’s turning
into a war.

“However, military incidents on the Armenian-Azerbaijani contact line
in late July-early August, as well as the helicopter issue showed
that this conflict can break out at any moment,” Nasirov said.

He noted that the mediators’ thoughts on prevention of conflict’s
transformation into the war is nothing more than an illusion, they
comfort themselves with this idea.

Nasirov also added that there are some bewildering moments. “Armenia’s
Serzh Sargsyan held an immediate meeting of the ruling party in
the country right after his return back to Yerevan from the NATO’s
Wels summit in September. He told the party that Armenia has made
more stringent achievements in the OSCE and its Minsk Group format,
but Azerbaijan has achieved more serious accomplishment in terms of
PACE and NATO. Sargsyan says that Armenians should take measures to
repeat its achievements gained in OSCE in terms of PACE and NATO,”
Nasirov said.

Nasirov stressed that this once again confirms that “if Armenia
satisfied with OSCE’s activity, then its serves the interests of
Armenia.”

Touching upon the replacement of this format with other format,
Nasirov noted that serious discussions should be held for finding
the convenient format.

The precarious cease-fire between Azerbaijan and Armenia was reached
after a lengthy war that displaced over a million Azerbaijanis and
has been in place between the two South Caucasus countries since 1994.

Since the hostilities, Armenian armed forces have occupied over
20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territory,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

As a result of the military aggression of Armenia, over 20,000
Azerbaijanis were killed, 4,866 are reported missing and almost
100,000 were injured, and 50,000 were disabled.

The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenia’s
withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been
enforced to this day.

G.N. SOUTH GRAD PENS PLAY ON GENOCIDE

The Island Now
Dec 11 2014

By Adam Lidgett TheIslandNow.com

When Anoush Baghdassarian wrote a play about the Armenian Genocide
during his senior year at Great Neck South High School, she said,
she only intended it to be a learning tool.

Now Baghdassarian, who studies psychology and literature at Claremont
McKenna College in Claremont, Calif., can say she is a published
playwright, with her play, “FOUND,” published by Xlibris.com, and
available at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.

“I just want people to know that this play is available to put on in
communities, and to give to students to learn about the genocide,”
she said.

As part of that effort, she said, she is having a book signing on Jan.

8 at the Barnes and Noble in Manhasset at 1542 Northern Blvd.

Baghdassarian said she is not really interested in making money from
the play, but that she wants instead to raise awareness and educate
people about the Armenian Genocide.

April 24, 2015 will mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the
genocide, which claimed the lives of 1.5 million Armenians by the
Ottoman Empire from 1915 through 1916.

Baghdassarian said with the anniversary coming up this is the right
time for schools as well as churches, temples and mosques to use to
help others learn about the “forgotten genocide.”

The play centers on an Armenian woman named Lucine, who lives through
the genocide.

The stage is split in two, with one side of the play being a young
Lucine in 1915, and the other side being Lucine in 1925, Baghdassarian
said.

Baghdassarian, who is of Armenian decent, said the show starts in 1915,
with Lucine’s home being invaded and her brother being kidnapped by
the Ottomans. The rest of the play involves Lucine, in 1925, writing
out the events as she saw them during the genocide.

As Lucine’s character writes about her experiences on stage them,
they are played out on the 1915 portion of the stage.

The play’s plot is driven by Lucine trying to find her brother,
and her worries about what happens to him.

“The most relevant message to spread in Great Neck would be to teach
people that when Hitler was planning the annihilation of the Polish
Jews, he justified himself by saying, ‘who, after all, speaks today
of the annihilation of the Armenians?,'” Baghdassarian said. Hitler
said this during his “Obersalzberg Speech” he gave on Aug. 22, 1939.

Baghdassarian directed the play initially during May and June of 2013
at the Levels Teen Center at the Great Neck Library, she said.

The play then was produced at the Armenian Church of the Holy Martyrs
in Bayside, Queens, later than June.

The show eventually moved to her college in California in 2014,
where she directed, produced and acted in it, Baghdassarian said.

Baghdassarian said she has been involved in theatre since she was in
the fifth grade, and that she has always loved to write.

She said that while taking a playwriting class she was required to
write a monologue, which would eventually, after a time, morph into
the first scene of “FOUND.”

Baghdassarian said she has been trying to educate people about the
Armenian Genocide since she was in the sixth grade.

She originally starting by doing educational posters, and eventually
would move on with her drive to educate with the play, she said.

“People have said to me ‘someone asked me about the Armenian Genocide
and I knew it because of your presentation,'” Baghdassarian said.

She said many of her family members were killed during the Armenian
Genocide, and that various members of her family also had to escape
to other areas of the world, including Egypt and South America.

Baghdassarian said she is currently in a screenwriting class at
Claremont McKenna College where she is working on a screenplay about
the Palestine-Israel conflict.

She said she eventually wants to practice law in the human rights
field, and would also like to write plays about human rights issues
as well, that would be both entertaining and educational.

MARGVELASHVILI MEETS WITH ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Dec 12 2014

12 December 2014 – 6:49pm

On Friday the President of Georgia, Giorgi Margvelashvili, held a
meeting with the Prime Minister of Armenia, Hovik Abrahamyan. They
discussed issues of cooperation in the spheres of economics and
culture.

After a meeting in the format of “one on one”, the Georgian President
invited the Armenian delegation to an official dinner, which was
attended by Minister of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia
Mikheil Giorgadze, State Minister for Diaspora Affairs Gela Dumbadze,
Georgian Ambassador to Armenia Tengiz Sharmanashvili, Security
Council Secretary Irina Imerlishvili, advisors to the President Tengiz
Pkhaladze and George Abashishvili and the head of the presidential
administration, David Pataraya.

Abrahamian, leading the Armenian government delegation, arrived in
Georgia on a two-day official visit on Thursday and met the Prime
Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili.

“The parties emphasized the friendly relations between the two
countries. The conversation also touched upon the cooperation between
Georgia and Armenia in the trade-economic, humanitarian and cultural
spheres,” the message of the press service of prime minister is quoted
by Georgia Online.

UN DEPUTE ARMENIEN DU PARTI AU POUVOIR : IL EST PREFERABLE DE RESTER SOUS LE JOUG DE LA RUSSIE

ARMENIE

Il est preferable pour l’Armenie de rester sous le joug de la Russie
a declare un membre de la faction du parti republicain majoritaire au
parlement expliquant son vote “oui” pour la ratification d’un traite
en vertu duquel l’Armenie deviendra un membre de la Union economique
eurasienne (UEE) dès l’an prochain.

“Nous ne pouvons pas survivre sans le peuple russe et vous le
savez bien, il suffit de vous poser cette question”, a declare Mher
Sedrakyan, parlant aux journalistes dans un couloir du parlement.

“Notre peuple a toujours vecu sous des jougs etrangers, nous sommes
habitues a avoir quelqu’un debout dessus de nous – ? les Perses,
les Turcs, les Russes … n’est ce pas mieux d’etre sous le joug des
Russes”, a declare le legislateur, ajoutant que “si nous n’etions
pas avec eux, nous serions devores. ”

vendredi 12 decembre 2014, Stephane (c)armenews.com

IRAK : 700 COMBATTANTS KURDES TUES DEPUIS LE DEBUT DE L’OFFENSIVE DE L’EI

IRAK

Plus de 700 combattants kurdes ont ete tues depuis le debut de
l’offensive jihadiste en Irak il y a six mois, a annonce mercredi la
region autonome du Kurdistan irakien.

Depuis le 10 juin, au lendemain du debut de l’offensive du groupe
Etat islamique (EI), 727 peshmergas ont peri et 3.564 ont ete blesses,
a annonce le gouvernement du Kurdistan dans un communique.

Il a precise que le bilan incluait “les officiers, les sous-officiers,
les membres des assayesh (renseignements) et de la police, ainsi que
les veterans peshmergas”.

Le gouvernement a ajoute que 34 autres membres des forces de securite
kurdes etaient portes disparus.

Les peshmergas ont notamment subi de lourdes pertes a Jalawla, une
ville a la frontière iranienne qui a change de mains plusieurs fois.

Le dernier bilan dresse le 8 août s’etablissait a 150 peshmergas tues.

Les chiffres n’incluent pas les eventuelles victimes infligees
aux renforts kurdes venus de Syrie, Turquie ou Iran, ni celles des
peshmergas irakiens envoyes pour defendre la ville syrienne de Kobane.

Mais selon le secretaire general du ministère des peshmergas, Jabbar
Yawar, seuls 11 combattants kurdes irakiens ont ete blesses a Kobane
et aucun n’a ete tue.

Les jihadistes de l’EI se sont empares en juin de larges pans du
territoire irakien, profitant de la debandade des forces federales
irakiennes, de nombreux soldats et policiers abandonnant tout
simplement leurs positions.

A la faveur de ce chaos, les peshmergas ont pris le contrôle de
territoires depuis longtemps disputes avec Bagdad, augmentant de
facto la taille de leur region de 40%.

Mais ils ont ensuite ete contraints de se retirer d’une partie de
ces territoires quand l’EI –qui a fait de Mossoul (nord) son centre
nevralgique en Irak– a lance une deuxième offensive en août.

Celle-ci a conduit les jihadistes aux portes de la capitale du
Kurdistan irakien, Erbil, poussant le president americain Barack Obama
a lancer des frappes aeriennes en soutien aux troupes kurdes au sol.

Plusieurs pays, dont la Grande-Bretagne, la France et l’Australie,
ont depuis rejoint cette campagne aerienne. Les peshmergas ont recu
parallèlement des armes et une aide en terme d’entraînement notamment.

Appuyes par les frappes de la coalition, les Kurdes ont participe
a la reconquete de plusieurs secteurs, comme le barrage de Mossoul
(nord), et sont desormais “en train de passer d’une phase defensive a
une phase offensive”, a souligne le gouvernement du Kurdistan mercredi.

Les forces federales irakiennes auraient elles perdu des milliers
d’hommes depuis juin.

Les violences ont deplace plus de deux millions d’habitants cette
annee, dont 946.266 ont trouve refuge au Kurdistan, selon un communique
commun de l’ONU et du gouvernement kurde publie mercredi.

L’accueil de ces deplaces “fait peser une lourde charge sur les
services sociaux (…) et les ressources financières” de la region,
a affirme le ministre kurde du Plan, Ali Sindi.

Une querelle avec Bagdad au sujet de la vente par Erbil de petrole a
entraîne des difficultes financières pour le Kurdistan, Bagdad bloquant
la part devolue au gouvernement kurde dans le budget national. Mais
debut decembre, un accord a finalement ete trouve, ce qui devrait
permettre le deblocage de l’argent.

vendredi 12 decembre 2014, Stephane (c)armenews.com

POLICE INVESTIGATING ATTACK ON MP: OPPOSITION PARTIES DEMAND QUICK SOLUTION TO CRIME

News | 12.12.14 | 15:26

GOHAR ABRAHAMYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

related news

Opposition MP attacked: ANC condemns “politically motivated” violence
against Aram Manukyan

Investigators are looking into the case of beating of an Armenian
opposition member who was attacked in front of his house late on
Thursday.

Enlarge Photo

Armenian National Congress parliamentary faction secretary Aram
Manukyan sustained head injuries and was hospitalized, while, according
to the information disseminated by the Information and Public Affairs
Department of the Investigation Committee, materials regarding the
incident are being prepared at the Arabkir Investigation Bureau.

It is said that a forensic expertise is arranged, operations and
search agencies of the Police are ordered to implement measure in
order to establish the identity of the unknown assailant.

The examination of the scene showed that there is a video-recording
camera in the neighborhood and the investigating body is studying
the records.

Manukyan, as an opposition member, is known for his harsh criticism
of the government. Doctors said he had suffered a concussion of the
brain and bruises in the attack.

This is the latest in what looks like a series of attacks against
public figures holding opposition views in Armenia. Three prominent
Karabakh war veterans were attacked and beaten in a similar manner
earlier this week. It is not yet clear how the cases are related.

Armenian Ombudsman Karen Andreasyan’s representatives met with Aram
Manukyan and spoke to him. Later Andreasyan strictly condemned the
violence against the oppositionist.

“I am deeply concerned about the incidents of recent days related to
car arsons and especially attacks against people. On the same day of
the incident with Suren Sargsyan, at around 9 pm my representatives
visited Aram Manukyan. Although so far neither Sargsyan nor Manukyan
filed a complaint-case against state officials, but we are ready to
start proceedings as soon as we receive complaints from the victims.

Regardless of that fact the investigation of all of these cases will
be in our focus in the near future,” Andreasyan said, adding that
he expects that all law enforcement bodies will act promptly and
unconditionally, so that those responsible are quickly identified
and brought to justice.

The opposition Heritage party’s parliamentary faction also strictly
condemned the incident and demanded quick disclosure of the
circumstances of the attack and punishment of those responsible.

“In other ways this can be considered a violation financed and
dictated by the government against citizens who openly express their
opinions. The current government carries all responsibility for what
happened,” the statement said.

Earlier, ruling Republican Party spokesman Eduard Sharmazanov also
said that any violence is condemnable.

OVER 11 000 CHILDREN TAKE PART IN JOINT PROJECTS OF BEELINE AND CAFESJIAN CENTER FOR THE ARTS

by Erik Abrahamyan

ARMINFO
Thursday, December 11, 23:48

Owing to cooperation between Beeline and Cafesjian Center for the
Arts, over 11 000 children took part in cultural and educational
activities. The press service of Beeline reports that in total,
138 events were carried out this year, among them youth, family and
educational programs aimed at the aesthetic education of children.

“Social projects implemented along with Cafesjian Center for the Arts
aim to change the life of children and their parents for the better.

Keeping up with the realization of the projects, communicating
with children and getting acquainted with their creative works and
feedback, we can confidently state that we managed to bestow positive
emotions and unforgettable impressions upon the children and their
parents. We are happy that owing to introduction to the history of
art and new revelations, the children expanded their horizons. On the
threshold of New Year, I would like to wish them new achievements,
bright impressions and great inspiration”, said Beeline Armenia CEO
Andrey Pyatakhin.

“I am sincerely grateful to our regular partner Beeline, which sponsors
educational projects carried out by Cafesjian Center for the Arts”,
said Executive Director of the Cafesjian

Center for the Arts Vahagn Marabyan.

Beeline and Cafesjian Center for the Arts have been cooperating
since 2011.

OMBUDSMAN OF ARMENIA CONDEMNS VIOLENCE AGAINST OPPOSITIONISTS

by Tatevik Shahunyan

ARMINFO
Friday, December 12, 12:06

Ombudsman of Armenia Karen Andreasyan has disseminated a statement
wherein he condemns attacks on political figures.

“I am seriously concerned over the incidents of the last days,
particularly, burning of cars and beatings,” Andreasyan says in the
statement. He says the Human Rights Defender’s Office stands ready
to launch a process as soon as it receives relevant complaints by
the sufferers.

“Anyway, the inquiry into the incidents will be in the focus of
our attention. I hope, the law-enforcement will act operatively and
impartially to expose and punish the criminals. The public must be
sure that those guilty will be punished and the threats to security
and safety of the citizens are liquidated,” he said.

The unknown burned cars of four oppositionists lately, beaten up
three Artsakh War veterans who harshly criticized the authorities,
and attacked oppositionist parliamentarian Aram Manukyan overnight. All
these people blame the authorities for what happened to them.