Author: Kanayan Tamar

MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS DUE IN ARMENIA ON OCTOBER 17

16:23, 13 Oct 2014

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs Igor Popov (Russia), James Warlick (US)
and Pierre Andre (France) will visit Yerevan on October 17, Spokesman
for the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tigran Balayan said in
a Twitter post.

The mediators will have meetings with President Serzh Sargsyan and
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.

The US Embassy in Azerbaijan reported earlier that the Co-Chairs
would visit the region from October 14 to 18.

UNEXPECTED CIRCUMSTANCE IS REVEALED

Hakob Badalyan, Political Commentator
Comments – 13 October 2014, 12:23

The part of the society that is against Armenia’s membership to the
Eurasian Union and condemns the surrender of sovereignty to three
states which have no shared interests but are getting closer to
Azerbaijan are angered by the infamous part of the ex-president Levon
Ter-Petrosyan’s speech at the Friday rally. Namely, he announced that
the Eurasian Union is irreversible and those who are speaking against
it are “20-30 nervous people”.

In fact, Ter-Petrosyan says it is nervousness when several citizens
are concerned about the loss of sovereignty and independence. And it
seems that embarrassment and indignation caused by the approach of
the first president is fair. People are surprised though some people
are no longer surprised how the person who was the first president
of independent Armenia can describe so the citizens who are worried
about the independence and sovereignty of Armenia.

After all, Ter-Petrosyan may describe such worries groundless but
how can he offend people who worry about it?

In reality, however, Ter-Petrosyan with his typical shrewdness is
doing the opposite. He is increasing the importance of those “20-30
nervous individuals”.

He places those few individuals on one scale with a rally of several
tens of thousands. Otherwise, hardly such a pragmatic, reserved and
self-confident individual would be overwhelmed by banal revenge. With
his typical reserve, self-confidence, Levon Ter-Petrosyan understands
that “nervousness” of some “20-30 people” is at least as much serious,
significant and important for the independence, sovereignty and future
of Armenia as the popular movement that he has declared.

Otherwise, Ter-Petrosyan is simply spiteful if he, having declared
an entire popular movement, standing in front of a rally of 10, 20
or 30 thousand, having behind him Gagik Tsarukyan who has 10 or 20
or 30 or many more millions, spares time to some “20-30” individuals.

Ter-Petrosyan says that these people are not capable of forming a
political agenda and all they can do is stir people’s mind. First,
if these people are not capable of forming a political agenda does
not means that the concerns they express are nervousness. Besides,
despite being incapable of forming an agenda, hardly counting 20 or
30 or 300, these people can stir people’s thoughts to the extent of
disturbing the popular movement declared by entire four forces.

Ter-Petrosyan means that they disturb them when these “nervous ones”
stir people’s thoughts. In other words, he is saying “if you cannot
form an agenda, why are you disturbing us, hindering the agenda that
we have formed?”

In other words, they are disturbing Levon Ter-Petrosyan. And if they
hinder Ter-Petrosyan, those 20-30 are not just nervous ones but an
entire criminal regime. Because if the regime is in panic for such
a long time, what is those 30-30 people to attend to them during
the rally?

Hence, Ter-Petrosyan acknowledges the importance of those “20-30
nervous ones”, whether he wants it or not. He wants to acknowledge it
intentionally because Moscow may not understand or may misunderstand
him. Therefore, the ex-president uses a rhetorical trick. Hence,
Ter-Petrosyan supports the movement against the Eurasian Economic Union
between the lines. He acknowledges it unintentionally that there are
some “20-30 people” who bring up the issue of the sovereignty and
independence of Armenia and threaten his agenda.

In any case, there is no need to be indignant. On the contrary,
one has to acknowledge the results of “nervous spasms” though,
unfortunately, it is highly insufficient. At the same time, it is
necessary to think about forming the political agenda, the shortcoming
mentioned by Ter-Petrosyan.

ARMENIAN-GERMAN BUSINESS FORUM HELD IN YEREVAN

14:12 13/10/2014 >> ECONOMY

An Armenian-German business forum took place in Yerevan on Monday. The
event was organized by the Armenian Development Agency, with the
assistance of Germany’s Embassy in Yerevan.

Head of the Economy Ministry’s Investment Policy Department Vahagn
Lalayan highlighted the significance of such events for the development
of economic cooperation.

“Political relations between Armenia and Germany are deeper than the
economic ties, so we should make every effort to expand the economic
relations,” said the official.

Mr Lalayan said that in January-August 2014 trade volumes between
Armenia and Germany made $300 million, marking a 28.8 percent growth
as compared with 2013. Exports from Armenia to Germany totaled $106.5
million and imports from Germany made $188 million.

Source: Panorama.am

LE MONDE VIENT A DILIJAN : LE COLLEGE OUVRE AVEC 96 ETUDIANTS

ARMENIE

Juan Friedens du Portugal, Yelena Vasilyevna de Mourmansk, Veronika
Fugl d’Allemagne, Lina Sim de Malaisie, Alina Khachatryan de Masis
sont parmi les 96 etudiants qui etudient a l’UWC Armenie (United
World Colleges), a Dilijan, l’une des ecoles de la chaîne mondiale des
collèges, qui a ouvert ses portes aux representants des differentes
nations en Août.

Juan du Portugal a dit qu’il avait entendu parler de l’Armenie,
savait où elle etait sur la carte, mais pas plus.

> a-t-il dit.

96 etudiants provenant de 48 pays sont arrives a Dilijan du 16 au 18
août et ils, selon le programme, passeront les deux premières annees
de leurs etudes ici. L’UWC Dilijan College est un complexe educatif
mixte international pour les etudiants de plus de 50 pays.

Il est membre du > reseau educatif et est
parmi les 14 collèges et ecoles, et ouvre des voies pour les jeunes
chercheurs pour les meilleures universites du monde.

> a declare Yelena Vasilyevna de Mourmansk.

La procedure d’admission est realisee independamment de la situation
financière des parents et est accompagne d’un vaste programme de
bourses d’etudes. Une annee de scolarite coûte 35 000 $, cependant,
la plupart des elèves auront l’occasion d’etudier avec l’aide d’une
bourse couvrant 100% des frais. L’admission a l’ecole est realisee
selon les règles fixees par l’UWC – par un système de comites nationaux
de l’UWC. Tous les cours du programme sont enseignes en anglais,
mais le programme comprend non seulement des langues etrangères, mais
aussi la langue et la litterature armenienne et des cours d’histoire.

“Le collège est situe dans un pays avec une exceptionnellement belle
nature et des gens accueillants. Il peut rivaliser avec n’importe quel
pays dans le monde. En tant que directeur fondateur, je suis heureux
de la creation d’un nouveau collège qui a accueilli des etudiants
de 55 pays cette annee >> a declare le directeur de l’UWC Dilijan,
John Fatherfoot.

Selon Fatherfoot, l’enseignement d’exception se trouve dans le fond
des ecoles exceptionnelles – il injecte des capacites d’apprentissage
le long de la vie et le desir constant d’apprendre.

a declare Noris.

Selon Noris, beaucoup de gens ayant atteint le succès dans les affaires
ou la politique sont des anciens de leur collège.

Fatherfoot mentionne que l’Ecole Internationale de Dilijan vise
essentiellement a transformer l’Armenie en un centre educatif global,
où des centaines de jeunes de partout dans le monde auront l’occasion
d’etudier et de devenir les ambassadeurs de l’Armenie dans le monde
entier.

>, a-t-il dit.

La mission de l’UWC est d’unir les peuples, les nations et les
cultures afin de creer un avenir pacifique et stable. Le premier
collège de l’Atlantique a ete fondee au Pays de Galles en 1962, et il
existe un reseau de 14 ecoles et collèges dans les cinq continents
du monde. Il recoit chaque annee plus de 7500 etudiants et 50 000
anciens. Il anime un reseau Comites nationaux dans 140 pays où des
demandes sont acceptees.

Donateur fondateur de UWC Dilijan l’homme d’affaires russe Ruben
Vardanyan et sa femme, Veronika Zonabendi ont eu l’idee de fonder une
ecole en 2006, ils ont cree un fonds appele IDEA pour le developpement
de l’economie, du tourisme et d’autres infrastructures dans la region.

Lors d’une de ses interviews Ruben Vardanyan a mentionne que les fonds
de IDEA mettront en oeuvre des programmes de bienfaisance qui auront
un impact sur l’avenir de l’Armenie et contribueront a transferer le
modèle actuel de survie armenien en un modèle prospère.

Gayane Lazarian

ArmeniaNow

lundi 13 octobre 2014, Stephane (c)armenews.com

inSerbia
Oct 12 2014

Serbia, Armenia to strengthen their relations

BELGRADE – During the second day of the visit of Serbian President
Tomislav Nikolic to Armenia, Serbian Minister of Economy Zeljko Sertic
and Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduard Nalbandyan signed the
Agreement on economic, scientific and technical cooperation and the
Memorandum of understanding in cooperation in the tourism sector, the
president’s press service released on Sunday.

In the talks with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, President Nikolic
underscored that the time has come for Serbia and Armenia to
strengthen their relations as two friendly countries, primarily
through economic cooperation.

The signing of the two documents is just the beginning of fresh
cooperation efforts between the two countries to the benefit of all
our citizens, Nikolic underscored.

Earlier on Sunday, Nikolic and his delegation visited the
Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex honouring the innocent Armenian
victims, the release states.

All Gov, USA
Oct 11 2014

U.S. Ambassador to Armenia: Who Is Richard Mills?

On September 17, 2014, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a
hearing on the nomination of Richard M. Mills Jr., a career Foreign
Service officer, to be the next ambassador to Armenia. If confirmed,
it would be the first ambassadorial posting for Mills and a homecoming
of sorts; he was the first State Department desk officer for Armenia
after the breakup of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.

Mills is from Texas and attended Georgetown University, earning his
B.S. in Foreign Service in 1981. His next stop was law school at the
University of Texas in Austin, where he earned a J.D. in 1984. Mills
practiced law for a few years as an associate at the Washington law
firms of Wickwire, Gavin and Gibbs and subsequently Duncan, Allen and
Mitchell until 1987.

His first assignment after joining the Foreign Service came in 1988 as
a consular officer and staff aide at the U.S. Embassy in Paris. In
1990, Mills was back in Washington as a desk officer in the Bureau of
Soviet Union Affairs and then was made desk officer for Armenia and
Azerbaijan. He was sent to Russia in 1993 as a political officer in
the St. Petersburg consulate.

Mills returned to the State Department in 1995 as a legislative
affairs officer and the following year was a line director in the
Executive Secretariat in the office of the Secretary of State. He was
sent to Ireland in 1999 as the economic/commercial officer at the
embassy in Dublin until 2001, when he was assigned as political
officer at the U.S. mission to the United Nations in New York.

In 2003, Mills was sent to Pakistan as political officer at the U.S.
Embassy, and in 2005 to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as economic officer and
acting economic counselor at that embassy. Next, he was moved to
London as political officer in 2006, but he returned to the Middle
East in 2009 as a senior democracy advisor in Baghdad, Iraq.

Mills went to Malta in 2010 as deputy chief of mission, and for a time
as chargé d’affaires, at the embassy in Valetta. While there, he
helped coordinate the evacuation of Americans and other foreign
nationals from Libya during the unrest in that country in 2011. He
also helped dedicate the new U.S. Embassy in Malta. In 2012, Mills
went to Beirut as deputy chief of mission, where he served until his
nomination.

One of the challenges Mills must face as ambassador to Armenia is that
2015 will be the 100th anniversary of the genocide of Armenians at the
hands of the Turks. Mills was careful not to use the word “genocide”
in his confirmation statement, but noted that he would work toward an
acknowledgement by Turkey of “a full, frank, and just acknowledgement
of the facts so that both nations can begin to forge a relationship
that is peaceful, productive, and prosperous.”

Mills is married to Leigh Carter, a former Foreign Service officer. He
speaks French and Russian.

-Steve Straehley

Armenia not opposing membership in Eurasian Economic Union to
relations with EU – Serzh Sargsyan

15:56 * 12.10.14

Armenia made its decision to accede to the Eurasian Economic Union
with a view to give impetus to its economic progress, Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan stated at a press briefing held jointly with
his Serbian counterpart Tomislav Nikolic.

“Free turnover of goods and services, capital, workforce and available
energy carriers, as well as transport solutions in the Eurasian area,
open up new opportunities for us to enhance the efficiency of our
economy,” Armenpress quotes Armenia’s leader as saying.

President Serzh Sargsyan stressed that Armenia is not opposing its
membership in the Eurasian Economic Union to its relations with the
European Union (EU).

“They have been and will be continued because we have numerous common
interests and common heritage. And we continue democratic reforms on
this basis,” he said.

Armenia’s bilateral relations with different European nations play an
important role in the country’s relations with the EU.

“The Serbian president’s visit and political contacts at different
levels are striking evidence thereof,” Armenia’s leader said.

Rising Ground: A Search for the Spirit of Place review – Philip
Marsden’s love letter to Cornwall

A thought-provoking exploration of Cornish lives and landscapes has an
affinity with the work of Richard Mabey and Simon Armitage

Kate Kellaway
The Observer, Sunday 12 October 2014

The coast near Penwith: ‘Philip Marsden’s book is, above all, a
tribute to Cornwall and its enduring beauty.’ Photograph: Alamy

There must be a moment in many a traveller’s life when there is a
sudden awareness that the unexplored place – as deserving of attention
as any distant destination – is home. This is what happened to Philip
Marsden – author of books about Ethiopia, Russia and Armenia – after
he moved, with his family, to a creek-side house in Cornwall. He fell
in love with the place. He writes about it with a historian’s eye and
singular sensitivity. At one point, he acknowledges that his ancient
farmhouse is bordering on uninhabitable but seems to rejoice at the
wisteria thrusting its way through the bedroom window and the
unexpected bramble that has invited itself into the sitting room. It
is only when his son, Arthur, announces that “there is like a big
mouse in the hall” that he sees the feral has gone too far. Yet, at
the same time, he struggles with an unease about the overhaul the
house is about to receive at his hands. He wonders what the people who
built it would feel about “our planned ceiling lights”. Happily, he
does not listen to his doubts. Houses, after all – like languages –
change. And besides – one cannot help but speculate – the people who
built the house might have loved the electricity and thoroughly have
approved of the ceiling lights.

In a wider context, Marsden’s respect for the past is the book’s great
strength. The book is, above all, a tribute to Cornwall and its
enduring beauty. It is, in part, a tour of tors and a reminder that
stonescapes outlive literary wayfarers. Marsden heads westward towards
Land’s End, taking in Bodmin, Tintagel and the strange white landscape
of china-clay country. His book has an affinity with the work of
Jonathan Raban,Richard Mabey and Simon Armitage – each writer able, in
his different way, to take on landscape as close work. And there is no
self-serving romanticism here. Marsden writes in an elegant, retiring
way (he could actually get away with keeping himself on a slightly
looser rein and include more personal detail). HBut that is not his
way: he is more likely to introduce someone else warmly than to show
his own hand or heart.

While the book’s aim is to discover the spirit of place, what it
reveals and celebrates best is the spirit of people – reaching back to
neolithic man. He is superb at describing walkers and scholars united
in topophilia (love of place): figures in a landscape. There is John
Whitaker (1735-1808), a most unusual vicar with green eyes and false
teeth made of ebony (imagine the smile) who wrote a parochial history
of Cornwall. Then there is the remarkable antiquarian Charles
Henderson (1900-1933), Cornwall’s answer to Nikolaus Pevsner, who
started recording as a child. (One is relieved to read that, aged 12,
he was noting his consumption of chocolate biscuits alongside the
obsessive detailing of Cornish churches). Most fascinating is his
portrait of Cornwall’s poet Jack Clemo (1916-94) who was
intermittently blind and whose voice is described as “the conscience
of the post-industrial age, crying from the white wilderness of
Cornwall’s clay dumps”. (I didn’t know of him – and look forward to
reading his poetry.) An incidental postscript: one cannot help
noticing that the walkers and recorders are, without exception, male.
And almost as if to suggest that this situation is unlikely to change,
when Marsden returns from his wanderings, his wife is at work on one
of their garden’s raised beds, a planted figure in contrast to his
own.

But perhaps the most striking thing of all about the book is that its
contemporary details seem anachronistic in their ancient context. The
modern age seems paper-thin, lightweight, even faintly ludicrous. In
Penwith, Marsden observes a poster for salsa courses and another for
the Alpha course “Life is Worth Exploring” outside the church hall.
The invitations come across as incongruous. It seems clear that
exploring this fine book would be the superior alternative with its
reminder that it is “diligent attention to the world” that “makes life
worth living”.

Rising Ground is published by Granta Books (£20). Click here to buy it for £16

Latin American Herald Tribune
Oct 11 2014

Poland Sets Up First Monument Honoring Wikipedia

WARSAW – Authorities in the Polish city of Slubice have decided to set
up the world’s first monument to honor the authors of Wikipedia, the
Internet encyclopedia which allows anyone to contribute.

“The goal is to highlight the international cooperation and joint work
of so many people working selflessly for the good of others to promote
culture and knowledge,” a City Hall spokesperson told Efe.

The idea of the monument came from Krzysztof Wojciechowski, director
of Slubice’s Collegium Polonicum, an institution that fosters
cooperation between Polish and German universities.

The monument could become a tourist attraction and also reflects the
town’s ideals and aspirations, deputy mayor Piotr Luczynski told
media.

It is scheduled to be officially unveiled on October 22 in the
presence of representatives of Wikipedia.

The cost of the project has been estimated at 50,000 zloty (over $12,700).

The monument’s designer is Mihran Hakobjan, a 30-year-old
Armenian-born artist who graduated from a Slubice college.

Since its launch in 2001, the Polish version of Wikipedia has proved
to be a hit, with more than one million entries.

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Oct 11 2014

Protesters demand Armenian president’s resignation

11 October 2014 – 10:28am

Activists of the opposition Armenian National Congress, Heritage and
Prospering Armenia parties gathered on Yerevan’s Freedom Square
yesterday demanding that President Serzh Sargsyan resign.

According to Raffi Ovannisyan, the leader of the Heritage party, who
addressed the activists, the political line of President Sarsgyan is a
“terrible mistake.”

The remarks came right after President Sargsyan signed an agreement
marking Armenia’s joining of the Eurasian Economic Union of Russia,
Kazakhstan and Belarus.