Author: Kanayan Tamar

Azeris Fire at Red Cross Convoy in Chinari Village

Monday, July 28th, 2014

A road in the Armenian village of Chinari, in the Tavush region

CHINARI, Armenia–A convoy carrying Armenian representatives of the
International Committee of the Red Cross was fired on by Azerbaijani
snipers Monday. No report on damages was released.

The spokeswoman for the Red Cross Armenia office Zara Amatouni told
RFE/RL that the organization’s aid workers were in the Chinari village
in the Tavush region of Armenia at the request of the villagers who
had asked for the Red Cross’ presence during the summer harvest
season.

The Red Cross used its mandate to secure an agreement from the sides
to not violate the cease fire during the summer harvest. Nevertheless,
according to the Chinari village administrator, Samvel Saghoyan, at
three minutes before 7 p.m. shots were fired from the Azeri direction.

The villagers had borrowed farming equipment from the neighboring
Movses village to facilitate the summer harvest with the Red Cross
officials on site.

Saghoyan told Aysor.am that the Red Cross vehicle was shot at breaking
its side mirror and tearing the Red Cross flag.

Armenia’s Defense Ministry announced on Monday that Armenian border
troops did not fire until the Azerbaijani snipers shot at border
village directions.

Defense Ministry spokesperson Artsrun Hovhannisyan told reporters that
the ministry always provides added supports to border villages at the
time of the harvest, explaining that Azerbaijan intensifies its sniper
attacks during the season.

Villagers reported that Azerbaijan intensifies its attack during
harvest season in order to destroy the crops, which are the only
source of income for the population on the border.

Another Karabakh Soldier Killed
The Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Ministry announced Saturday that
20-year-old Khachatur Badasian was killed after Azerbaijani force
attempted to enter the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Despite the death,
the Azerbaijani forces were driven back to their posts.

Nagorno-Karabakh Republic President Bako Sahakian on Monday
posthumously awarded Badasian a medal of courage.

Member of European Parliament Calls for Release of Levon Hayrapetian

Monday, July 28th, 2014

Member of the European Parliament, Czech Senator Jaromà – r Ã…tÄ?tina

PRAGUE (Armenpress)’Member of the European Parliament, Czech Senator
Jaromà – r Ã…tÄ?tina, Discussed the arrest of his childhood friend,
Armenian businessman and philanthropist Levon Hayrapetian in a public
statement published on Facebook. ÅtÄ?tina expresses his concerns
regarding Hayrapetian’s arrest, saying: `Levon is my childhood friend.
We have crossed the Siberian rivers together. I am afraid for his
life.’ Jaromà – r Ã…tÄ?tina also issued a statement calling upon the
President of the Russian Vladimir Putin to release Levon Hayrapetian.

Levon Hayrapetian’s health condition was assessed as `satisfactory,’
Hayrapetian’s spokesman Matsak Poladian told Armenpress.

Poladyan noted: `This morning I was informed that Levon Hayrapetian’s
health conditions were assessed as satisfactory. This gives us hope.
They [the Russian authorities] also promised to take him to a hospital
or place him under house arrest in the coming days.’

Hayrapetian suffers from diabetes and cancer and recently experienced
a stroke, requiring him to receive regular medical attention.

Hayrapetian, 65, was arrested by Russian Federal Security Service
officials on July 15. Last Thursday, a Moscow court allowed the
businessman’s two-month imprisonment while investigators conduct a
probe into his alleged criminal connections and involvement in some
illegal financial dealings. Official charges against Hayrapetian are
expected to be brought on July 24.

Hayrapetian is considered to be one of the wealthiest Armenians in the
world. He is known to have invested millions of dollars into
developing Nagorno-Karabakh’s infrastructure and renovating the area’s
historical-cultural monuments. His charity included a mass wedding for
hundreds of Karabakh couples in 2008 and sponsorship of the
construction of a military college in Martakert.

Hrant Bagratyan: Government has done nothing in 100 days (video)

16:25 | July 28,2014 | Politics

The authorities in Armenia have not promised the four non-governing
forces to implement the opposition-submitted 12-point list of demands:
they have more tasks to perform, Speaker of the Armenian Parliament
Galust Sahakyan said on July 28.

“Of course it will be much better if these 12 points coincide with our
programs,” he said adding that ‘otherwise, the opposition is to draw
corresponding conclusions.’

Mr Galust Sahakyan advises the opposition to forget about the change of power.

“I have been in politics for many years and I have frequently heard
the opposition saying, “We shall soon come to power…”

The parliament official observes that ‘people who come to power
usually do it calmly and quietly without loud shouts and warnings.’

Hrant Bagratyan, a lawmaker of the opposition Armenian National
Congress (HAK), says the political forces do not like sitting and
waiting for the government to take concrete steps. The economist says
the executive body led by Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan has made one
or two steps; there is no reason to be optimistic.

Evaluating the first 100 days of the government, Mr Bagratyan said the
executive could have done ten times more things during this period;
the figures do not greatly exceed the indexes of the previous
government.

Hrant Bagratyan also cited several items from the program proposed by
the Abrahamyan-led government which offered concrete steps. The HAK
member says in fact the government has done nothing in 100 days.

U.S. Puts Forth Tough Conditions To Turkey

Hakob Badalyan, Political Commentator
Comments – 28 July 2014, 13:01

After 2010 the United States and Turkey reached quite important
agreements on a series of foreign political, including geopolitical
issues, which appears an important factor of international, especially
regional politics.

It is interesting that during the same period the analytical materials
of leading think-tanks of the United States and Europe do not cover
thoroughly the “Turkish topic”, primarily the U.S.-Turkish
relationship. There are articles that reflect the Turkish policy on
the Near East, Turkish-French relations and Turkish relations with
other European states but the U.S.-Turkish relations have not been
deeply revealed.

Analysis based on over 100 materials of American and European analysts
did not allow drawing expected and substantial conclusions.
Interaction with different U.S. and European experts demonstrated that
the U.S.-Turkish relations remain a relatively closed topic.

These experts are partly not ready to review the issues that interest
us and are partly uninformed. Finding out the character and content of
agreements between the United States and Turkey at this stage requires
mostly an intuitive review, as well as occurrence of the necessary
signs to define one condition or another of general and specific
agreements. Besides this approach, a stage by stage comparative
analysis of different events and processes is important.

It should be noted that during the past years, in 2003-2011 which is
quite a long time, the United States apparently had an unpublished and
controllable agreement over implementation of a policy on Turkey and
analytical publications on the Turkish topic. The impression was that
the U.S. administration, both Republican and Democratic, was not
interested in restraining the qualified discourse in Washington over
the Turkish topic though Turkey initiated the discussion, fearing that
the issues relating to it would be leveled and disappear from the
political arena.

The Bush administration ignored Turkey toughly and demonstratively,
and the Obama administration preferred “softer forms” of this
position, realizing that Turkey has already “matured” to return under
the U.S. control, a number of steps were taken to resolve different
problems and preparations for normalization of relations were
underway.

Over the past years the United States conducted a policy of “soft
containment” of Turkish foreign political ambitions, leaving
opportunities for relatively painless “return” into the traditional
U.S.-Turkish relations. The United States did not allow significant
strengthening of the Turkish influence over Iraq and the Near East,
overall prevented closer rapprochement of Turkey and Saudi Arabia, as
well as thwarted development of relations between Turkey and Iran.
Analogically, the political rapprochement of Turkey and Iran was
prevented, creating problematic situations in regard to this
objective.

The policy of France and Germany on Turkey, which has led to maximum
distance and lack of any alignment between Turkey and the leading
European states, as well as the European Union, favors the United
States and the United Kingdom. The European project of Turkey is
practically complete, at this stage the Europeans do not have any
levers to influence Turkey and are reluctant to have any necessity to
use such levers. The policy of France, Germany and all the other
European states, including the United Kingdom on Turkey has been
“economized”. As a result, Turkey faced the United States with famous
contribution by the United Kingdom.

Having found itself in tight geopolitical blockade and isolation,
Turkey has not just returned to former relations with the United
States but also control by the latter.

The United States has achieved what worried it the most, i.e. Turkey
has given up autonomous and independent regional politics, agrees its
regional politics with the United States, which is illustrated by the
Syrian example.

Turkey is trying to conduct a more independent policy on Russia but
apparently it will not succeed. The Russian dimension of the Turkish
policy is principal to the United States, and the Americans are trying
to avoid unexpected developments.

At the same time, there are signs that the Turkish topic stops being
delicate in the relations between the United States and Turkey though
both sides are trying not to break the existing agreements on
political matters. The current U.S. administration and the political
circles have to find out how crucial the discussion on the Turkish
topic may be.

The behavior of the old partner and ally of the United States in NATO
remains defiant, especially in regard to the problems of regional
politics and relations with the Atlantic alliance. Ahead of the next
NATO summit in Cardiff Turkey has a series of agreements with the
United States and European partners but according to some information,
Ankara has certain intentions to agitate the summit, and the Americans
understand very well that these Turkish initiatives pursue certain
goals.

Turkey’s claims to its partners, primarily the United States, over the
problems of the Near East and other regional issues continue.
Therefore, a controversial situation has occurred. For example, the
United States and Turkey seem to have definite agreements on
non-interference of Turkey in the Karabakh issue, non-intervention in
the next possible war in Karabakh as well as containment and
prevention of the Azerbaijani aggression towards Armenia.

This is an important sign that the United States and Turkey have
serious agreements but can they be viewed as long-term? Now the United
States has taken measures to isolate Turkey from Russia but there are
no signals as to whether it was a success.

We think this policy means not only isolation, i.e. a non-active role
in the isolation of Russia but non-intervention of Turkey in the
processes between the West and Russia. In other words, there is hope
that this U.S. policy bears a systemic character though in the modern
world “systemic” has lost its significance.

In any case, changes in the U.S. foreign policy are reflected in this
regional aspect. Hence, the period of “delicacy” in the U.S.-Turkish
relations has passed, and it is time for more specific and tough
relations.

– See more at:

ARMENIE
LTP sur la réforme constitutionnelle : Le président Sarkissian veut
éterniser son pouvoir

Le Premier président et leader de l’opposition en Arménie, Levon Ter
Petrossian a affirme que la question des réformes constitutionnelles
crée un espace spécial entre le gouvernement et l’opposition, et qu’en
cas de poursuite, le Président Serge Sarkissian pourrait faire face à
une perte de pouvoir.

“Si Serge Sarkissian persiste dans sa tentative de pérenniser son
pouvoir par le biais de réformes constitutionnelles, alors le cadre de
graves processus politiques se dérouleront à l’automne et va devenir
la pelle de la tombe de son propre système d’>a déclaré
Levon Ter Petrossian dans une interview avec le site de ilur.am,
promettant ainsi un automne politique >.

Soulignant que les réformes constitutionnelles prévues vont ruiner la
souveraineté arménienne, et “même si toutes les forces politiques se
sont prononcés catégoriquement contre l’initiative de modifications
constitutionnelles” Levon Ter Petrossian a mentionné que Sarkissian
voit la position du Parti Arménie prospère comme le principal obstacle
sur le chemin de réalisation de l’objectif.

“Si jusqu’à récemment, il a essayé de surmonter cet obstacle par une
carotte, c’est-à-gagner le parti par des promesses, alors maintenant,
selon les informations que nous avons, en employant l’ensemble de la
machine de répression, il va utiliser le bton contre le PAP, en
utilisant les menaces et le chantage, et les autres forces de
l’opposition et la société toute entière ne pourront pas letolérer “,
a déclaré le premier président.

lundi 28 juillet 2014,
Stéphane (c)armenews.com

One of the oldest Christian communities in the lands of Christ has
been destroyed as the Sunni Caliphate spreads

Robert Fisk

Sunday 27 July 2014

It’s not difficult to see where the Christians have made political
mistakes in the Middle East

1 / 1
Displaced Christians who fled the violence and threats by Isis in
Mosul, northern Iraq, pray at Mar Aframa church in the town of
Qaraqoush
AP

For three years, the Arab revolutions cast “Palestine” and
Palestinians to the fringe of memory in the Middle East. And now the
new bloodbath in Gaza has pushed to the corner of our consciousness
the continuing tragedy of the Christian exodus.

As the Christians of Mosul fled their cruel, new “Sunni Caliphate”,
photographs of the city’s Syriac-Catholic church, fire blazing from
its windows, only made inside pages in the Middle East press.

That two of the world’s most-hated, born-again Christians – George W
Bush is one and the other, a British citizen, is unmentionable –
should have destroyed one of the oldest Christian communities in the
lands of Christ, remains a most brutally ironic testament to their
folly.

Both, of course, would no more acknowledge this today than the
Christians of the Middle East can ignore it.

And inevitably, the Christians in the great cities lying between the
Tigris and the Mediterranean are asking why no Muslims are condemning
their tragedy.

Isis controls Syrian Aid
A man collecting aid administered by Isis in Syria

“What are the moderate Muslims saying?” the Lebanese Catholic Maronite
Patriarch, Bechara Rai, asked acidly last week. “We do not hear the
voices of those who denounce this.”

Indeed not. The Caliphate’s threat to the Christians – convert, be
taxed or die – contradict, in the words of the Chaldean Patriarch,
Archbishop Louis Sako, “1,400 years of history and of the life of the
Muslim world and of coexistence between different religions and
different peoples”. Archbishop Sako spoke, too, this week of how Iraq
itself had become a “humanitarian, cultural and historical
catastrophe”. But he added that Christians in the region must remember
that the Koran demands respect for minorities and that the Christian
people must also remain respectful to Muslims and show “patience and
endurance”. Which, I would have thought, might be turning the other
saintly cheek a bit too far.

READ MORE: End ‘very near’ for Christianity in Iraq, says Bishop
Isis orders Mosul shop keepers to cover mannequins
Editorial: Genocidal intentions of Isis take on horrible clarity

But of course, the new Caliph of Mosul has applied restrictions to all
Shia Muslims as well as the Yezidis, the Sabeans and the Turkomens.
And there have been street demonstrations in Beirut just last week –
jointly, by Muslims and Christians – to both condemn the treatment of
the Christians of Mosul and the Palestinians of Gaza.

Religions may be different, was the message, but both the Christians
and Muslims of the Middle East are Arabs.

Now of course, it’s not difficult to see where the Christians have
made political mistakes in the Middle East. Many Copts in Egypt
supported the regime of President Hosni Mubarak when it was clear that
the revolution would overwhelm him. And the Copts were also rather too
quick to line up alongside Abdel Fattah al-Sisi when Egypt’s Field
Marshal/President decided to destroy the Muslim Brotherhood.

Far too many of Lebanon’s Christian families aligned themselves with
the Crusaders in the 11th century and far too many Christians fought
each other as well as their Muslim, Druze and Palestinian brothers in
the 1975-90 Lebanese civil war. In Syria today, the Christians accept
the Assad regime – as surely they must when they can see the Caliphate
spreading its laws through the Syrian city of Raqaa. Even the dead of
the 1915 Armenian genocide (Christians too, remember) have not been
spared; the church housing their bones in Deir el-Zour has been
damaged. And I recall seeing with my own eyes the burned bibles and
knife-ripped paintings in the church at Yabroud, just north of
Damascus. I took some samples and showed them to lecture audiences in
America and Europe – and in the Arab Gulf. I did not do so to suggest
that Bashar al-Assad was a highly-enlightened man – but to show them
what America’s great ally, Saudi Arabia, is doing.

For the Saudis lie behind this vast new force of the Caliphate, whose
Islamist rulers have brought some of their Iraqi military assets –
courtesy of George W again – to Syria and are now giving the Syrian
army a tougher fight. Before the Caliphate spread to Mosul, the Syrian
army was winning, or at least not losing. Now their soldiers are being
executed, just like the Iraqi Shia army units captured near Mosul.
And, of course, we continue to buttress this savagery in Syria while
we loudly condemn the very same groups which are now ruling Mosul and
threatening “democratic” Iraq. Saudi Arabia continues to fund the
Wahabis among the Sunni forces while we continue to protect the
Saudis, to shield them from all criticism, just as we did when 15 of
the 9/11 hijackers turned out to be Saudis, just as we did when they
funded the Taliban.

Even in north-eastern Lebanon now, there are hidden Isis dangers. The
Lebanese army, the only institution in the state which really works,
has stationed men and equipment around the town of Ersal where many of
the rebels against Assad have taken shelter. The Syrian army, when it
stormed into Yabroud this year, effectively cut them off from Syrian
territory. But if the Syrian military lose ground in the mountains
south of Homs, then Isis forces might try to link up with Ersal and
Isis would then be able to boast that its early title – The Islamist
Army of Iraq and the Levant – had come true.

Of course, we can comfort ourselves that the new Caliphate-regime is
too crackpot to survive. Probably. But didn’t some people say exactly
that when Ayatollah Khomeini flew back to Tehran, and when our
favourite dictators took over the Middle East? Didn’t we used to call
Gaddafi a crackpot? And didn’t he rule for quite a long time? The
Christians of the Middle East don’t, therefore, take much comfort in
this sort of jolly assumption. For if Isis has its rump north of
Baghdad and its body across Syria, what happens when, even from the
Lebanese border, its teeth can be heard snapping just a few miles from
the Mediterranean?

Artribune, Italia
27 luglio 2014

L’artista armeno Mikayel Ohanjanyan vince la seconda edizione
delPremio Henraux, dedicato al marmo della Versilia e alla pratica
della scultura. Tutte le foto

Scritto da Francesca Alix Nicoli

Negli straordianari paesaggi di cava della regione apuo-versiliese si
riflette l’eco dalle vaste pareti bianche, come immense cattedrali a
cielo aperto, rivolte verso il mare. La discesa dei blocchi di marmo è
lenta e faticosa, mentre il silenzio tutt’attorno è rotto solo dal
vociare forte del capolizza. Grossi cavi sostengono i pesi, mentre i
mollatori esperti allentano i piri e i lizzatori fanno arrivare nuovi
tronchi di legno cosparso di grasso, su cui scivolerà “la candida mole
che abbaglia”.
Anche a queste immagini antiche si è ispirato il vincitore della
seconda edizione del “Premio Fondazione Henraux in Memoria di Erminio
Cidonio”, l’armeno Mikayel Ohanjanyan, che con la sua scultura,
“Materialità dell’invisibile”, ha saputo magistralmente sviluppare e
trasporre in marmo la sua idea di “dare corpo all’ineffabile”. Alla
base l’idea filosofica di rovesciare la natura estroversa, assertoria,
se non retorica, della scultura, in introversione, cavità, zona di
vuoto generata da cavi stretti ad altissima tensione. Il lavoro
ricorda visivamente le canape che stringevano i blocchi riquadrati,
avviluppando le pareti liscissime del bianco statuario, quando il
trasporto a valle si faceva sulle vie di lizza.
L’opera rappresenta un punto di arrivo nel progetto avviato
dall’artista con la serie di “prospettive introverse”, dedicata al
rapporto fra interno ed esterno: la scultura diventa centro di forze,
incrocio di tiranti, generazione di carica. E non è più, essa stessa,
forma.

Mikayel Ohanjanyan, Materialità dell’invisibile, 2014

All’annuncio del vincitore, durante la cerimonia di sabato26 luglio a
Querceta, sono state svelate le opere a un pubblico selezionatissimo,
mentre il capannone – restaurato per l’occasione – si accendeva di
mondanità. Philippe D’Averio in abito rosa, uscito di fresco dalla
sartoria Gazzillo di Carrara, ci ha tenuto a rifilare una stilettata
all’indirizzo del nuovo piano paesaggistico, in fase attuativa ai
vertici della Regione Toscana, poich̩ Рha sottoineato Рdalle cave si
genera lavoro, e quindi artigianato e industria, arte, cultura e
civiltà. Un concetto ribadito da questo premio, sulla falsariga delle
Biennali di Carrara che nascono nel 1957. Manifestazioni lodevoli, che
riflettono la volontà di alcuni imprenditori del ramo dell’escavazione
di incentivare la trasformazione in loco, svolgendo lavorazioni ad
altissimo pregio artistico e puntando su teconologie sofisticatissime,
sulle insostituibili maestranze del marmo e sulla difesa delle
eccellenze del made in Italy.
Unica donna arrivata fra i finalisti, la bolognese Francesca Pasquali,
incassa il secondo posto in classifica e non nasconde di avere trovato
qualche difficoltà nel trasporre in marmo la sua Frappa, quel
raffinato avvolgimento di nastro, tessuto e filamento che ha trovato
finora naturali alleati nei materiali industriali, ma anche nelle
volgari e coloratissime cannucce. Il risultato è tutto nelle forme
sinuose, ripetitive, mordide del suo nuovo progetto, dall’aspetto
organico e vibrante.
Terzi classificati ex aequo sono gli “indigeni” Massimiliano Pelletti
e Filippo Ciavoli, che portano l’attenzione rispettivamente sulla
testa umana e sul corallo. Insieme alle tre finaliste della scorsa
edizione, le quattro opere del secondo Premio Henraux resteranno
esposte nel parco della Versiliana per tutto il mese di agosto.

– Francesca Alix Nicoli

AL-Monitor
July 27 2014

Will Christians disappear from the Middle East?

by Jihad al-Zein
Translated by Cynthia Milan
Al-Nahar (Lebanon)

More than 60 years after the collapse of the Jewish element in the
Arab region and most of the Muslim world (because of the establishment
of Israel), the Christian element of today — larger in numbers than
the Jewish one ever was — is, for the first time, entering a whirlwind
which threatens its existence. This is because of Islamic
fundamentalism.

There are two main turning points for the demographic change in modern
times which transformed the identity of our Arabic societies, as well
as some Muslim ones.

The first is the establishment of Israel, which made our societies
almost completely lose the Jewish element. The Jewish groups were an
organic part of our Arab lives in Egypt, Yemen, Morocco, Syria and
Iraq, as well as in Iran and somewhat in Turkey. The deep tension that
followed the establishment of Israel by expelling the Palestinians
caused the Jewish existence to gradually fade out of the Arab
environment. Its existence in light of such a violent conflict has
become impossible for many reasons.

The second is the situation of the past 10 years, after the Iraqi
change and the Syrian outbreak. Syrian and Iraqi interference is the
second turning point which could lead to an imminent loss of the
Christian element in Syria and Iraq (not to mention the fact that the
Christian element is fading out of Israel and the regions it
occupies).

If the rise of Zionism is responsible for the historic course of the
Jewish element in our societies, then the rise of Islamic
fundamentalism is responsible for the situation of Christians today.
In the face of this catastrophic deterioration, what is the point of
talking about “moderate fundamentalism” and “extremist
fundamentalism?”

During the past 30 years, it has been made very clear that extremist
fundamentalism was born from the womb of what is now called “moderate”
fundamentalism. Here lie the common responsibilities of the Muslim and
Christian elites in the region: to find a way out of this
fundamentalism which is uncontrollably spreading in our societies and
countries, not only politically but also socially, culturally and
economically.

The Coptic Church in Egypt has entered, for the first time, a struggle
over the identity of the Egyptian government and has clearly sided
with the movement opposing the Muslim Brotherhood.

The currently democratic Turkish government, due to the circumstances
under which it was created in early 1920s, led the Greeks and
Armenians to fade out of Anatolia. It also led most Christians to fade
out of the region due to the religious background of the Turkish
(Muslim) conflict with the Greeks and Armenians (Christians). … This
Turkish government is structurally insensitive to Christian existence
in the region and has long forgotten this time-honored tradition which
survived until the end of the Ottoman Empire.

Iran, with its religious regime, is also concerned about priorities
other than religious diversity. This is despite the fact that this
Iranian government has noticed — through its interference with the
change that occurred in Iraq and the Syrian conflict — the importance
of the threat to Christian existence in these two countries. The
clergy in Iran and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey
have both learned from the Lebanese experience and from the essential
role of Christians there. However, what is feared is that all these
dealings with various Arab countries and societies is limited in
Iranian and Turkish speech to political and cultural etiquette.

Saudi Arabia is concerned about limiting the spread of the Iranian
“Shiite Crescent.” Since 2003, it has been dealing with Iraq on the
grounds of protecting the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), not
defensively but offensively. However, the irony is that the same
kingdom leading the Sunni offensive against Iran is now fighting the
Muslim Brotherhood and has helped in eliminating it from Egypt. This
role might contribute in the future to turning the region into a
nonsectarian environment for conflicts.

Separately, Lebanese Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai’s visit to
Damascus and later on to Israel was not followed, in the course of
regional events, by any action from a political or religious official
or any committee representing Christians in the Fertile Crescent and
Iraq — especially not from Lebanon — that would indicate an
understanding of the existential danger facing Christians in the
region, specifically in Syria and Iraq.

The significance of the patriarch’s visits goes beyond the actual
occasions. The first visit was to participate in the inauguration of
the Orthodox patriarch and the second was to accompany Pope Francis in
his visit to Jordan, Israel and Palestine.

Both visits indicate a change in the political behavior of the
Maronite Church, dictated by the unprecedented situation in the
region, which is now threatening — and has already begun — to
completely change the religious and cultural structure of the region
since the appearance of Islam in Syria and Iraq. However, the greater
catastrophe is that the political authority representing Christians in
Lebanon, which is the only strong bloc both politically and
economically among the Christians of the East (even though it is
demographically smaller than the Copts in Egypt), did not react to
this dangerous situation. This authority kept drowning in its personal
conflicts and foreign engagements, as if what is happening to
Christians in the region were not worthy of acting as if there is a
state of emergency and launching a much-needed new strategy.

Where is the true review, which requires more than simply going over
tactics and launching appeals? We say this while fully aware of the
engagements of the Sunni and Shiite political elites, who are
controlling their sects, as well as all the Lebanese political class
in conflicting regional projects.

In a time closer to (destructive) endings rather than (promising)
beginnings, it may be required that Lebanese Christian leaders deal
with the Christian cause in the region by considering Lebanon
“responsible” for the Christians’ fate in the region instead of being
a mere witness. This requires a political responsibility that needs
new priorities. It requires setting a noble mission for all Lebanese
(and Arab) authorities, no matter what their confessions are.

Centennial of Armenian Genocide out of context of latest geopolitical
developments – Garegin Chugaszyan

16:30 * 27.07.14

In an interview with Tert.am, Preparliament Coordinator Garegin
Chugaszyan spoke of the Armenians’ expectations after the centennial
of the Armenian Genocide has been marked.

According to him, inertia is dominating. That is, the Armenians are
going to mark the centennial of the Armenian Genocide without
considering epoch-making changes.

Mr Chugaszyan, the Preparliament’s resolution entitled “The 100th
anniversary without the ruling regime” is known. However, will any
measures be implemented, what are your expectations about the 100th
anniversary about the Armenian Cause in the present moral and
psychological situation?

Of course, people can hold expectations, but it is the ruling circles
that have the levers at hand. And what we can hear about the
preparations for the centennial does not in any way meet our
expectations. More was done on the threshold of the 90th anniversary
than now.

As far as I know, much is not made public to prevent Turks preparing
countermeasures and so on. What has disappointed you?

I cannot say anything about secret measures. In the 21st century, in
the world of Wikileaks and Snowden, keeping diplomatic secrets is a
difficult task – if possible at all. That is, they are keeping it
secret from their own people. Therefore, there has been a need for
publicity. The question is that our domestic moral and psychological
situation is much more important than issues related to international
recognition. What is our perception of our destiny? Are our people
well aware of what they are going? The centennial is a symbol. But it
is also an epoch-making landmark. That is, it is important for us to
understand what epoch we are entering. The world and we have now
reached a phase of cool calculation of forces.

The Ukraine developments are the symbol of a new global situation,
when international guarantees do not mean anything. In Ukraine’s case,
the superpowers gave guarantees of inviolability of borders. So what?
It is a matter of mere calculation of whether that state can defend
its borders by itself. The same can be said of other states. The
international situation is radically different, and it is on the
threshold of the centennial of the Armenian Genocide, and the epoch
has changed. The large-scale changes both in the North and in the
South have caused destabilization, which, to an extent, is changing
our conceptions of expectations about the centennial, in the context
of the Armenian Cause. Have you ever heard anyone speak of it at the
state level? There is an impression that nothing has changed and we
continue marking the centennial. However, when the context is
different, the meaning of the event is different. Now that 100 years
have passed since the Armenian Genocide, we are witnesses to the
massive violence against and relocation of the 14-million-strong
Middle East Christian population, including Armenians. Why does not
Armenia raise the issue at the UN, it being the only eastern Christian
nation which is an international entity historically representing all
the eastern Christians in Jerusalem? Why does not it present what
happened to us 100 year ago in this topical context?

Mr Chugaszyan, at what level should the answers to your questions be
looked for – diplomatic, academic, diasporic?

At all the levels. Unfortunately, Armenia is represented at such a low
level now, and decision-makers are anti-national figures that such
issues are not being raised. That is, the problem of sovereignty is
becoming number one problem for us. For us to properly deal with the
issue of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, we have to
resolve the sovereignty problem first. If we are unaware of what is
going on round us and incapable of implementing foreign policy, there
is no sense in speaking of expectations about the 100th anniversary.

That is, you expect events, without discussions or solutions.

I have no expectations because the ruling circles’ representatives
have said the 100th anniversary is not anything significant, and no
problem will be resolved. So what expectations can we have?

But the issue may be raised later, on the 101st anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide.

It is not a problem of consistency. It is a problem of change in our
attitude to the Armenian Cause. The present-day world is not the world
in which we have marked the Armenian Genocide for the past 50 years.
And the 100th anniversary is the best occasion to restore this
international context and specify our strategy. But expectations are
unnecessary without sovereignty.

May be the relevant work is being done through diplomatic channels.

I am not speaking of secret diplomatic channels. And even in this
sense, we should realize that in the 21st century, in the world of
Wikileaks and Snowden, keeping diplomatic secrets is a difficult task
– if possible at all.

That is, you are speaking of the need for a new concept.

I am speaking of a new situation in the world, which requires a new
approach, and the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide should be
the best occasion. My words do not mean that the 100th anniversary
would resolve the problem of the Armenian Genocide. But we need a
strategy in a new context.

May be, President Serzh Sargsyan’s statement on September 3, 2013,
stemmed from this context? May be, it was the first step, the strategy
you have mentioned?

Are you sure that the Eurasian Economic Union will not one day turn
into a union of Turkic states? We have been told it is a solution to
our security problem. But the statement on Armenia’s accession to that
union was followed by increased tensions on our border.

What’s your opinion of our moral and psychological atmosphere in the
context of the 100th anniversary?

We should now change our moral and psychological atmosphere rather
than be discontented with it. But it will change only if the people
consider and realize the ways of improving their situation. The
problem is creating a platform for all the patriotic forces concerned,
which will act as bearer of sovereignty. The only issue in Armenia is
that of restoration of sovereignty. Once people rally round it, the
situation will radically change. Our attitude to our situation depends
on ourselves.

Agence France Presse
July 26, 2014 Saturday 1:08 PM GMT

Azerbaijani troops kill Armenian soldier in Karabakh: separatists

YEREVAN, July 26 2014

Azerbaijani forces shot dead an Armenian soldier in frontline clashes
in the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region on Saturday, the breakaway
defence ministry said.

“A 20-year-old soldier, Khachatur Badasian, suffered a fatal gunshot
wound” after Azerbaijani special forces “attempted an incursion to
carry out sabotage and spying” in the early hours of Saturday, the
ministry said.

It said that the separatist forces then managed to drive Azerbaijani
troops back across the northern and northeastern sections of the
volatile frontline.

Armenia’s defence ministry said there had also been clashes along the
border in the Karabakh region with Azerbaijani forces shooting at
Armenian villages.

There has been an uptick in violence across the border in recent
months, with both sides regularly accusing the other of tit-for-tat
raids.

At least 21 soldiers have been killed so far this year, as government
and rebel snipers periodically exchange fire across the flashpoint
frontier.

Armenia-backed separatists seized Nagorny Karabakh from Azerbaijan in
a 1990s war that killed 30,000 people. Despite years of negotiations
since a 1994 ceasefire, the two sides have yet to sign a peace deal.

Azerbaijan has threatened to take back the disputed region by force if
negotiations do not yield results, while Armenia has vowed to
retaliate against any military action.

mkh-am/pg/ec