Author: Kanayan Tamar

Interfax, Russia
Oct 17 2014

Yerevan claims Baku stalling Karabakh settlement process

YEREVAN. Oct 17

Azerbaijan is not ready to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said
Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian.

“Azerbaijan pretends that it is ready to draw up a peace treaty but it
is trying to shift the debates to other platforms on one hand and to
thwart the negotiating processes aimed at coordination of fundamental
settlement principles on the other hand,” the Armenian Foreign
Ministry press service quoted the minister to Interfax as telling the
OSCE Minsk Group intermediaries.

“The minister emphasized that the destructive steps taken by
Azerbaijan exhibited its unpreparedness to settle the conflict,” the
ministry said.

Nalbandian called the intermediaries’ attention to the increased
frequency of ceasefire violations ahead of a meeting of the Armenian
and Azeri presidents in Paris due in late October. “This is a
behavioral style traditionally demonstrated by Baku before high-level
meetings,” he stated.

“Nalbandian also pointed out to the intermediaries that Azerbaijan had
been alleging that the [OSCE Minsk Group] cochairmen had proposed to
start expert negotiations on settlement elements acceptable for Baku,”
the ministry said.

Journal of Turkish Weekly
October 17, 2014 Friday

Interim mistake

Turkey, Oct. 17 — JTW Op-Ed, Orkhan Valiyev

International relations was created at the Peace Conference of
Westphalia in 1648. Subsequently, world affairs have been regulated by
monarchies, nation states and ideological wars. Now, we find ourselves
in 2014, at the centenary of World War I, as Huntington famously wrote
the world politics has entered a new phase that in which the sources
of conflicts will primarily be cultural.

After the Soviet breakup the West endeavored to remap post-Soviet
geography with revolutions being one of its major instruments. While
these color revolutions were ultimately able to prompt regimes change
in Ukraine, Georgia, the EU failed to eliminate corruption and Russian
presence in Ukraine thereafter, therefore rendering the hopes of the
initial revolution void. Yet looking at it from a different angle,
since independence Ukraine was never able to fully independent due to
the strong influences of both Russian and the West. Here the western
part of the country leaned toward the West, while on the other hand
eastern Ukraine refused to accept western values due in large part to
the high concentration of the Russian speaking minority living there.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union Russia’s popularity has declined
in the post-Soviet geography and the West has been there to try and
supplant by sowing the seeds of democracy, rule of law and respect for
human rights. The West was able to convince of western Ukraine of the
democratization process, and as a result those living there began to
identify themselves as part of the EU even though their country would
never be a full member. The western oriented leadership of Ukraine may
have succeeded in ousting the pro-Russian president but they did not
have any realistic strategy for the future. Subsequently, the
government is still in need of western aid to which end the newly
elected president visited the US on 18 September and held a “historic
speech” at congress asking for support against Russia. He added that
the crisis in Ukraine is a global issue but I argue that despite lond
applause at the congress the Western leadership cannot agree with him
because the world is currently facing such crises and, conflicts that
are much more threatening to global security especially western
interest. Ultimately, the Ukrainian crisis is a regional and even
post-Soviet issue for the west.

Karl Popper described politics as “irrational action”, and in the case
of Ukraine’s interim government that came to power after Yanukovich,
irrational decisions were made which had dire consequences for the
Ukrainian population.

First, with the nullification of the law on minority languages in
Ukraine, the interim government opted to shoot first, think later, an
action which has come at a high price and given the Kremlin a pretext.
Seizing this opportunity, Russia declared that the Russian minority in
Ukraine was in danger, and therewith, a justification for Russian
intervention on behalf of the society of its people was provided.

Second, the interim government hoped for full membership in both the
EU and NATO, but according to the joint Declaration of the Prague
Summit in 2009, participation in the Eastern Partnership does not
guarantee EU membership. In article one of the declaration it is
stated that “The participants of the Prague Summit agree that the
Eastern Partnership will be based on commitments to the principles of
international law and to fundamental values, including democracy, the
rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, as
well as to, market economy, sustainable development and good
governance”. As can be seen the declaration makes no mention of
membership.

Third, as Huntington wrote on his thesis in terms of religion and
ethnicity Ukraine was divided two parts, with the majority of those in
western Ukraine, which saw the first of five movements in the
post-Soviet geography against Soviet authority on the eve of the
Soviet breakup as European. While the opposition leaders successfully
aimed their aggression against at Russia in the western part of the
country, they neglected eastern Ukraine and the Russian presence
there. As Huntington wrote “people can change their religious,
political, and civil identities but they cannot change their cultural
identity”. In addition, economic interdependence is seen by Dale C.
Copeland as the major cause of wars yet this characteristic of
Ukrainian- Russian relations was not aptly recognized by Ukrainian
leaders.

Why Ceasefire won’t stop deaths

On the eve of the Soviet breakup five conflicts emerged within the
post-Soviet geography all of which were frozen by Russian “mediation”.
In the case of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, both sides signed an
agreement but skirmishes and casualties never stopped as the terms of
ceasefire neither released Azerbaijani territories that were invaded
by Armenia exerted any significant impact on the future proceedings of
the negotiation process. In the case of Ukraine, the signing of a
ceasefire agreement in no way ensures that the conflict will truly be
resolved.

First of all, the central government of Ukraine does not have direct
contact with the separatists, thus making any form of negotiation
difficult.

Second, as can be seen in the example of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
Russia does not seek to stop deaths or reach a genuine political
solution to the conflict, rather, the Kremlin’s primary interest is
maintenance of its influence over Ukraine.

Ironically, despite the fact that the Kremlin denies its relations
with the separatist groups in eastern Ukraine, during the signing of
the ceasefire agreement in Minsk, representatives of the separatist
did not sign the final peace plan. From my point view, the ceasefire
process proved once again that unless they formulate and pursue a
rational strategy which would guarantee Russia’s interest in eastern
regions, Ukrainian officials will not prevail.

In conclusion, I postulate that Russia will not annex or seize the
eastern regions of Ukraine like it did with Crimea. Nonetheless,
Russia will also never agree to the existence of Western values in
eastern Ukraine and has already successfully planted the seeds of fear
and revulsion which are the major factors of conflict. As Dr Zbigniew
Brzezinski famously wrote “Modern nation-building is a difficult
process. Because it is so complex, the process is easily vulnerable to
nationalistic emotions and, indeed, ethnic antipathies” (The Caucasus
and New Geo-Political Realities). Therefore, Ukraine should formulate
a rational, pragmatic strategy that can act as a guide, and understand
that nations have no permanent friends or enemies, they only have
permanent interests.

Additionally, Ukrainian officials should also heed the words of
Lippmann that “the facts of geography are permanent” when analyzing
its geographical position, Ukraine does not technical fall into Europe
in a geographical sense. Moreover, despite the fact that the newly
elected government signed the Association agreement with the EU, it
will be implemented in 2016, once again proving that Ukraine’s
westernized political elite made a historic mistake. While the fact
remains that the Russian economy has seen declined, the country still
have formidable influence over the post-Soviet geography and the
Ukrainian officials have failed to balance their relations with the
Kremlin. Consequently, Putin hold all the cards in his hand.
Unfortunately, despite the repulsion of the population of western
Ukraine towards Russia it will be unable to institute a central
government without Russian participation.

Nikol Pashinyan visited Shant Harutyunyan and his friends

14:21 | October 18,2014 | Politics

Today in “Vardashen” and “Nubarashen” prisons I met political
prisoners Shant Harutyunyan, Vardan Vardanyan, Volodya Avetisyan, Vahe
Lazarian, Albert Margaryan, Alek Poghosyan, Armen Hovhannisyan,
Avetis Avetisyan, Liparit Petrosyan, Hayk Harutyunyan, Mkrtich
Hovhannisyan, Sevak Mnatsakanyan, Tigran Petrosyan. NA Deputy Nikol
Pashinyan informed it on his Facebook page.

“I received great energy during the meeting. All the boys without
exception strongly stand on their positions of civil fight,”- noted
Nikol Pashinyan.

Naira Zohrabyan: Verdict against Shant Harutyunyan demonstrates that
Armenia’s judicial system is not independent

by Nana Martirosyan
Saturday, October 18, 15:37

The Armenian judicial system is the most dependent in the world and
this is proved by the case of Tseghakron Party Leader Shant
Harutyunyan and his friends, Naira Zohrabyan, MP from the Prosperous
Armenia Party, told ArmInfo on Saturday.

She said that the verdict sentencing Shant Harutyunyan to 6 years in
jail and giving a 4-year suspended sentence to his son Shahen
Harutyunyan is obviously politically motivated. Zohrabyan is
indignant at the fact that the court has sentenced a minor to 4 years
in jail, even if it is a suspended sentence. “If anyone in Armenia
believes and claims that the judicial system here is independent,
he/she should immediately be included in the Guinness Book of World
Records”, she said.

To note, Leader of Tseghakron Party Shant Harutyunyan has been
sentenced to 6 years in prison and his son Shahen Harutyunyan has been
given a 4-year suspended sentence. The verdict was delivered on
October 17 by the court of general jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork
Marash communities of Yerevan. Vahe Lazarian, one of Shant
Harutyunyan’s teammates, has been sentenced for 7 years in jail,
Albert Sarkaryan – 6 years, Sevak Mnatsakanyan – 5.5 years, retired
Lieutenant Colonel Vardan Vardanyan, Liparit Petrosyan and Avetis
Avetisyan – 5 years, Hayk Harutyunyan – 4.5 years, Alex Poghosyan and
Mkrtich Hovhannisyan – 4 years. Armen Hovhannisyan, who served in the
Armenian army for 20 years, has been sentenced to 2 years in jail, and
Tigran Petrosyan has been given a 1-year sentence.

To recall, Shant Harutyunyan was arrested following the 5 Nov 2013
developments in Liberty Square. The clashes in Liberty Square started
at 5:30 PM when the demonstrators came across a police cordon. The
police say that the demonstration was not sanctioned. As was reported
earlier, the demonstrators were moving to Mashtots Park, when Shant
Harutyunyan tried to cross the street against the traffic lights. The
police’s attempt to stop him ended in a skirmish. Harutyunyan and his
son were detained. Some demonstrators began blowing up bottles with
gasoline. Earlier Shant Harutyunyan organized a picket in Liberty
Square. He stood there with a poster saying “I am Declaring a
Revolution!” A total of 38 people were detained, and many of them were
arrested.

Gold Trace of Liska’s PhD: Scandalous Facts

Aghasi Ivanyan
Comments – 18 October 2014, 14:32

In September 2006 the Armenian ministry of environmental protection
withdrew the license Global Gold Mining of the license to explore the
multi-metal mine of Marjan in Sisian, Syunik region. According to
minister Vardan Aivazyan, the company is exploring several sites and
fulfils its commitments but it did not fulfill them on Marjan site
therefore we have deprived them of the license.

Note that the company had obtained license in 2004 to explore
Tukhmanuk, Hankavan, Getik, as well as Marjan sites and had carried
out activities of 6.5 million dollars before losing the license for
Marjan, intending to spend more to 9.6 million dollars.

Global Gold Mining had appealed against the decision of the ministry
at the Southern District Court of New York which passed a ruling on
Aivazyan. It is true that Vardan Aivazyan denied knowing about the
process in the American court but the court published all the
notifications sent to him.

Vardan Aivazyan had also announced that license for exploration of the
mine in Marjan was renounced after the audit conducted by the
ministry. An act was drawn up based on the audit, which was signed by
Global Gold Mining. However, the act published in spring 2005 lacked
the signature of the representative of the company. The company has
proved that no work could have been done at the mine because in the
period of works the mine which is located 2800 m above see was covered
with a thick layer of snow and it was not possible to move come to the
mine.

When the act was drawn up, Aivazyan even tried to blame the company
for failure to explode the mine, which was a great risk to the
security of Armenia. The company had submitted to the ministry the
reports for 2005-2006 which clearly demonstrate that works of 4
million dollars were performed in Marjan and later the ministry did
not have any objections to those reports, though only after Vardan
Aivazyan’s dismissal.

The aforementioned would be just a recall of a criminal story unless
Surik Khachatryan, governor of Syunik, had not boasted carelessly that
he is a doctor of political science. The point is that a Canadian
company was involved in these developments staged in Surik
Khachatryan’s “land” which is not mentioned often and which intended
to get hold of Marjan alone. This Canadian company called Caldera
Resources, hand in hand with the ministry, intended to rid of its
partner Global Gold Mining. These two companies had registered Marjan
Mining Joint Venture.

One bright morning, in only an hour and a half, Caldera Resources Inc.
made a change to the Marjan Mining’s charter without informing Global
Gold Mining, without its representative and relevant documents, which
is a fact of misappropriation of someone else’s property.

Certainly, Global Gold Mining applied to the Administrative Court of
Armenia. The American company won, and the activities of Caldera
Resources Inc. were suspended but strangely enough the court did not
rule on any compensation.

What is the most significant thing in this story? The representative
of that Canadian company was Azat Vardanyan, the president of the
International Academy of Informatization, the person who conferred the
scientific degree of doctor on Surik Khachatryan. For what merits? One
may suppose that the contender had come up with a thesis (with a
valuable signature) how, following Jack London’s personages, in the
middle of the winter, at an altitude of 2800 m, amid a 1.5 m thick
layer of snow, the representatives of the ministry of environmental
protection have reached Marjan area in Syunik with on dog sleds to
explore the area.

It turns out that Azat Vardanyan is also fond of degrees. His
biographies vary but all of them are full of degrees. In one biography
he is an alumny of Moscow State University of International Relations,
in other one, he is an alumni of Yerevan State University. In one
place he is born in Egypt, in another place he is born in Kazakhstan.
His criminal record is also eloquent. For example, according to the
sources of the Russian Ministry of Interior Azat Vardanyan was
sentenced to 7 years in prison under Article 186 Paras 1 and 2 of the
Russian Criminal Code on 15 May 1987 and conditionally released on 23
October 1991. Article 186 is entitled “making, keeping, transporting
or selling counterfeit money or bonds”.

Money counterfeiters are considered “top notch” professionals in the
criminal world. But Azat was freed earlier. He served on 4 years in
sentence.

Azerbaijan violates ceasefire 500 times in one week

Saturday, October 18, 2014

On October 12-18 the Azerbaijanis side violated about 500 times the
ceasefire on the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Nagorno
Karabakh and Azerbaijan, according to data of Defense Army of the
Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

Over 5,000 shots were fired at Armenian frontline positions, the press
service of NKR Defense Ministry reported.

TODAY, 15:20
Aysor.am

Yezidis also victim of “media genocide”

11:05 | October 18,2014 | Politics

Yezidis, being one of the oldest nations of the Middle East, are on
the verge of extinction in their own homeland. Besides being subjected
to physical extermination, another condemnable phenomenon is added to
it. The question is that many worldwide media (electronic, print),
whether intentionally or mistakenly, represent Yezidis as Kurds, which
is evident injustice.

It must be stated that we- Yezidis, call ourselves Ezdi, and our
neighbors know us as Yezidi, Yezid, which is comprehensible from the
point of view of linguistics. For us it is offending and wrong that we
are considered Kurds, who have no connection and commonality with us.

We call all the media of the world to call us Yezidi, Yezidi people,
Yezidi nation. By this you will reflect the truth as well as will
express your respect to our small, suffered nation, which has its own
unique culture and history.

Yezidi community in Armenia

“No to genocides” civil initiative

Agence France Presse
11 octobre 2014 samedi 4:46 AM GMT

Samuel Sevian, 13 ans, un précoce des échecs qui se rêve champion du monde

Washington 11 oct 2014

“Perdre, c’est pire que mourir”: à 13 ans, Samuel Sevian vit pour les
échecs dont il est tombé “amoureux” en déplaçant ses premiers pions à
cinq ans avec son père, avec un objectif à portée de main: devenir le
plus jeune Grand maître de l’histoire des Etats-Unis.

Quatorze petits points le séparent de ce nouveau record à son palmarès.

En 2006, lors de son premier tournoi, il devient le plus jeune Expert
américain. A 9 ans, 11 mois et 23 jours, il devient plus jeune Maître
américain et, à 12 ans et 10 mois, le plus jeune Maître international.
Il est également champion du monde de sa catégorie fin 2012 en
Slovénie.

Il a de la marge pour ce nouveau défi car le titulaire du record, Ray
Robson, n’a été couronné que deux semaines avant son quinzième
anniversaire. Samuel aura 15 ans en décembre 2015.

“Je veux avoir ce titre”, et le plus tôt sera le mieux pour le
conserver longtemps, a-t-il confié à l’AFP, à la veille d’un tournoi à
Arlington, dans la banlieue de Washington.

Mais son grand rêve, c’est “devenir champion du monde”.

Pour ce faire, il s’entraîne cinq heures chaque après-midi. La matinée
est consacrée aux études, à domicile “parce qu’avec les tournois,
aucune école n’accepte” autant de jours d’absence.

Avare de mots, Samuel explique qu’il est complètement impensable de
passer ne serait-ce qu’un jour sans toucher à son échiquier.
Ouvertures, milieux de partie, finales, chaque phase de jeu est
étudiée, pendant des heures.

Si certains apprennent par coeur des parties entières et sont
capables, face à l’instantané d’une partie, de nommer adversaires et
année, Samuel estime “que ça ne sert à rien”. “Il suffit d’apprendre
les principales positions”.

Ouvrages et programmes sur ordinateur nourrissent sa soif de
connaissances, mais pas vraiment internet. Tout juste cela lui
permet-il de converser avec ses entraîneurs: le légendaire Garry
Kasparov et, régulièrement, le Grand maître international Alexander
Tchernine qui fait aussi le déplacement une semaine tous les
deux-trois mois.

-“Mordu des échecs”-

“La Fondation Garry Kasparov est la seule aide que nous recevions,
pour les entraînements et la prise en charge d’une partie de nos
dépenses de voyages. C’est une grande aide”, a expliqué son père Armen
Sevian, scientifique arménien arrivé aux Etats-Unis il y a vingt ans.

Maître d’échecs dans sa jeunesse, il avait décidé de suivre “d’autres
intérêts”. Et il aimerait bien que son fils fasse de même.

S’il entretient sa forme physique pour résister aux longues parties de
cinq à six heures en tournois en faisant du sport, Samuel ne joue pas
aux jeux vidéos, ne lit que des livres consacrés aux échecs ou à ses
études, et ne fréquente guère des jeunes de son ge en dehors des
tournois.

“J’ai essayé de l’attirer vers autre chose”, en vain. “Je ne voulais
pas qu’il devienne un phénomène mordu des échecs”, a confié M. Sevian,
“extrêmement fier” mais également “inquiet”.

“Si vous voulez atteindre un très haut niveau, vous ne pouvez rien
faire d’autre. Ce sont des heures de travail et de dévouement”, a-t-il
expliqué.

Père et fils jouent encore ensemble mais pour donner un peu de chance
à M. Sevian, les pièces maîtresses sont disposées autrement. “Comme
ça, il n’a pas un schéma qui se met en place tout de suite”, selon le
père.

“A huit ans, il a fait cinq parties en même temps, les yeux bandés”, a
relevé, légèrement blasé, Armen Sevian. “Il les a toutes gagnées”.

Avec les ordinateurs et internet, des joueurs de plus en plus jeunes
réalisent des performances de plus en plus spectaculaires.

“Les enfants s’imprègnent et absorbent des informations à un rythme
beaucoup plus rapide que jamais auparavant. Internet fournit une
information amusante et facile à lire avec des programmes
d’entraînement tactiques que les enfants adorent”, écrivait il y a
quelques mois le Maître international Gregory Shahade, citant
nommément Samuel parmi ces phénomènes.

Samuel acquiesce: “L’ordinateur te dit quel est le meilleur mouvement.
Avant, il fallait passer des heures à analyser” l’échiquier.

Rotowire
Oct 19 2014

Henrikh Mkhitaryan: Returns To First Team

Posted on October 19, 2014 at 12:27 AM

Mkhitaryan returned for his first game since injury in September but
could not prevent Dortmund losing 2-1 Saturday to FC Köln.

The return of Mkhitaryan along with several other big names looked to
herald a new beginning for Dortmund, however like much of the team the
Armenian fell short. He was subdued, created little, was booked and
finally replaced by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on 68 minutes.
Mkhitaryan will surely be a big attacking threat in upcoming games but
this was not his day.

FOOTBALL-CHAMPIONNAT DE GRECE
L’international arménien Kevork Ghazaryan participa à la victoire de
l’Olympiakos face a Ergotelis (3-2)

L’international arménien Kevork Ghazaryan a participé à la victoire de
l’Olym akos face à Ergotelis (3-2) lors de la 7ème journée du
championnat de Grèce hier après-midi. L’Olympiakos qui avec 13 points
rejoint le leader PAOK Salonique (qui compte un match de moins que
l’Olympiakos). Kevork Ghazaryan est entré sur le terrain à la 58e
minute du match alors que son équipe perdait 1-2. Mais grce à un
doublé de Kostas Mitroglou, l’Olympiakos remporta une belle victoire à
laquelle contribua également le milieu offensif de l’équipe d’Arménie,
Kévork Ghazaryan transféré l’été dernier au club de la capitale
grecque.

Krikor Amirzayan

dimanche 19 octobre 2014,
Krikor Amirzayan (c)armenews.com