Author: Kanayan Tamar

FRANCE EXPECTS GEORGIA TO ASSIST IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH PEACE PROCESS

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
May 14 2014

14 May 2014 – 8:18am

French President Francois Hollande said in Tbilisi yesterday that
France was hoping for Georgian assistance in the Nagorno-Karabakh
peace process, Trend reports.

He reminded that France, a member of the OSCE Minsk Group, wanted
Georgian partnership to be a symbol of trust between Azerbaijan
and Armenia.

French President Francois Hollande said in Tbilisi yesterday that
France was hoping for Georgian assistance in the Nagorno-Karabakh
peace process, Trend reports.

He reminded that France, a member of the OSCE Minsk Group, wanted
Georgian partnership to be a symbol of trust between Azerbaijan
and Armenia.

ARMENIAN FULFILLS DREAM IN SHANDONG

China Daily
May 13, 2014 Tuesday

by Zhao Ruixue

Even the cabbies know Militonyan Nune in Rongcheng, a county-level
city of Weihai, Shandong province. The Armenian woman’s cafe–and
her pursuit of happiness in China–are well-known among local people.

Learning the local nuances

Not an easy task translating laughter

Taxi driver Wang Hongjun says: “We all know about her story and her
coffee bar and restaurant are popular among tourists”.

Located at the Shidao port of the city, Nune’s restaurant features a
big photo of her family with “Love in China” printed on it in Chinese.

“You couldn’t imagine how much I’ve gone through to get this,” the
46-year-old says in Chinese, with a strong local accent.

Nineteen years ago, Nune worked as a hospital nurse in Yerevan, the
capital of Armenia, where her father ran a factory and her mother
worked as a doctor. She had a decent life: “I lived in a villa,
had a car and drank wine every day.”

But everything changed in 1995 when she nursed a Chinese man who
worked at a mill in Yerevan.

“I got a fever and she nursed me for seven days like a family member,”
says Deng Zhonggang, now Nune’s husband.

“When I was discharged from hospital, she gave me her phone number
and told me if I had any problem in Yerevan, I could talk to her,”
the 47-year-old says.

Deng called Nune frequently and they started seeing each other.

“At first my mom opposed our relationship as she thought Zhonggang
was not a match for me. But he worked hard to convince my parents
that he could be a good husband,” Nune says.

At a party, Deng made “fantastic dumplings” for her parents and
friends, touching their hearts as well as tickling their taste buds.

Nune and Deng got married in 1996 in Yerevan. They had twin daughters
the next year.

In 1997, the family moved to Deng’s hometown, Zhanjiazhuang village,
on the coast in Rongcheng.

“It was terrible,” Nune says of her early life there.

“People were curious about me. They touched my hair and skin to feel
if I was real,” she says.

Learning the local nuances

Not an easy task translating laughter

More frustrating were the living conditions at the village–the stinky
outdoor toilet, the brick “kang” bed, no supermarket, no tapwater,
no shower. A tractor was the only transportation available for a
lengthy trip.

“I once mistook the cauldron they used for cooking meals as a tool
for washing clothes,” Nune recalls.

After her well-established life in Yerevan, she had to learn all the
house and farm work in China, including making steamed bread in the
cauldron, washing clothes by the river and cutting wheat.

At first, “hao ” (ok) was the only Chinese word Nune could say. Even
a kiss that Nune regards as a social greeting created gossip among
the locals.

“My first three phone calls to my mom, I could say nothing, just cry.

I couldn’t help crying,” says Nune.

Deng felt sorry for bringing Nune to such a difficult life, so he
bought a ticket and persuaded Nune to return to Yerevan. Minutes
before the ship set off, however, Nune got off.

“I couldn’t abandon my husband and daughters,” she says. So she
approached life in China with a new determination and enthusiasm.

With money her mother sent, Nune started raising chickens and cows
in 2002. She even slept in the cowshed to better know the animals’
habits. She earned 9,000 yuan ($1,450) in 2004, when the average
income of local villagers was around 2,000 yuan.

In 2005, Nune met several Russians while shopping and learned their
ships were docked at the port for maintenance.

“They told me they can’t find a place to drink coffee and eat Russian
food, so opening a coffee bar to serve Russians came into my mind,”
says Nune, who speaks fluent Russian.

Learning the local nuances

Not an easy task translating laughter

The same year, the local government began to promote industries
of fisheries, shipping and tourism at the Shidao port. The timing
was perfect.

With the help of a local investor, Nune’s coffee bar was soon open
for business, popular among Russians and domestic tourists, too. Now
earning around 70,000 yuan a year, she moved her family to the urban
area of Rongcheng and soon bought a car and laptop.

Nune’s workers, mostly women who were laid off from previous jobs,
make a good salary now.

Wang Rongqiao, a female worker who once had to take two weeks of
sick leave, gave the boss a thumb’s-up. “I unexpectedly got the
whole month’s salary and an extra allowance of 500 yuan from Nune,”
Wang says.

Boosted by the brisk business of the coffee bar, Nune opened a
restaurant at Shi-dao port in 2006. She gets tips from her mother
about Russian cooking via the Internet.

Now Nune has opened a new coffee bar at Licun village at Rongcheng’s
Haoyunjiao Holiday Resort.

“Such a coffee bar with foreign flavors injects vigor into our tourism
sector,” says Wang Hongwei, a publicity official at the resort.

Her twin daughters–Kamila and Luchiya–are Nune’s pride and joy.

The 18-year-old sisters, who now study at Yantai Arts School, have
won several big dancing prizes and made appearances in films.

“China has seen sound and fast development in recent years. I believe
it’s a good choice for them to develop in China,” Nune says. “I’m
very happy, and I love China. This is a great country,” Nune says.

AGES-LONG FRIENDSHIP UNDERLIES ARMENIA-RUSSIA RELATIONS – ARMENIAN LEADER

ITAR-TASS, Russia
May 13, 2014 Tuesday 10:12 PM GMT+4

YEREVAN May 13

– Ages-long friendship underlies the warm relations between Russia
and Armenia, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said Tuesday.

“We have been friends for some 250 years. We lived a very long time
in one state, one statehood, we are connected by culture, by economic
relations,” Sargsyan said at a press conference in Yerevan.

“I think Armenia’s desire to join the Customs Union [of Russia,
Belarus and Kazakhstan] was not strange for anyone as economic
interconnectedness is today at a very high level. Besides, we have a
bilateral friendship treaty with Russia, we are in the same security
system,” he said.

“The Customs Union also gives certain benefits to member countries,
for example, the opportunity to import energy carriers to Armenia
at competitive prices, which makes it possible to have competitive
goods in our restricted conditions,” Sargsyan said.

The Armenian leader said joining the Customs Union does not mean
stopping relations with the European Union.

“We will keep deepening relations with the EU as these relations
are an opportunity to not only return to our roots, but to implement
reforms faster in our country,” he said.

Armenian Economy Minister Vagram Avanesyan said in April that the
treaty on his country’s admission to the Customs Union will be signed
in late May or June.

FAAE: NKR AUTHORITIES MUST IMMEDIATELY LAUNCH PROCESS OF REUNIFICATION WITH ARMENIA

by Nana Martirosyan

Tuesday, May 13, 12:52

Forum of the Armenian Associations of Europe (FAAE) urges the NKR
authorities to immediately launch a process of reunification with
Armenia, FAAE says in a statement.

“Considering the latest statements by U.S. Co-Chair James Warlick
and other American officials on the situation around Crimea, the NKR
authorities need to immediately launch a process of reunification
with Armenia for security reasons,” the FAAE says. Further, in the
statement, the Forum recalls the growing role of the principle of the
people’s right to self-determination in the world and Artsakh’s right
to demand recognition of the people’s expression of will. The authors
of the statement say that to achieve this goal, a full consolidation
of Armenia, Artsakh and the Armenian Diaspora is needed.

FAAE claims that the Armenian authorities, particularly, the foreign
ministry, have failed to ensure the necessary political and military
security of the NKR due to their inactivity.

To recall, James Warlick in his speech, particularly, said: “In
light of Nagorno-Karabakh’s complex history, the sides should commit
to determining its final legal status through a mutually agreed
and legally binding expression of will in the future. This is not
optional. Interim status will be temporary. Second, the area within
the boundaries of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region that
is not controlled by Baku should be granted an interim status that,
at a minimum, provides guarantees for security and self- governance.

Third, the occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh should be
returned to Azerbaijani control. There can be no settlement without
respect for Azerbaijan’s sovereignty, and the recognition that its
sovereignty over these territories must be restored. Fourth, there
should be a corridor linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh. It must
be wide enough to provide secure passage, but it cannot encompass
the whole of Lachin district. Fifth, an enduring settlement will
have to recognize the right of all IDPs and refugees to return to
their former places of residence. Sixth and finally, a settlement
must include international security guarantees that would include a
peacekeeping operation. There is no scenario in which peace can be
assured without a well-designed peacekeeping operation that enjoys
the confidence of all sides.”

Ä°ZMIR CATHOLIC CHURCH HOME TO HOLY LANCE

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
May 13 2014

Ä°ZMÄ°R – Anadolu Agency

An Ä°zmir church is home to relics from the era of Jesus. One of them
is the Holy Lance, which is believed to have pierced the side of Christ

The priest of the church, Stefano Negro, says the originality of
the lance was traditionally approved and sealed by the Vatican and
that the seal of the document on the history of the lance, cannot be
opened. AA Photo

The Holy Lance, which is believed by Christians to have pierced the
side of Jesus as he hung on the cross and became a legend, is being
kept in Ä°zmir’s Santissimo Rossario Catholic Church as a relic.

The priest of the church in Alsancak, Stefano Negro said the Gospel of
John mentioned the lance, known to Catholics as the Spear of Longinus.

“In the Bible, we see John’s testimony. Jesus died after three hours of
pain. Everyone was surprised how fast he died because it is a painful
and long manner of execution. The Roman soldier who saw that Jesus
died and wanted to prove it pierced his side with the lance,” he said.

Noting that the first state that recognized Christianity was an
Armenian state, Negro said the first relics from the life of Jesus
had been collected by Christians and these relics had been kept in
the Nakhchivan region.

He said that the Dominican priests began establishing the Catholic
society in the 1300s and the region became a Catholic area. “As of the
1600s, Armenians began migrating to the Ottoman Empire. The Dominican
priests who also sought asylum in the Ottoman Empire in the 1720s
moved to Ä°zmir with relics. They were hosted in the Saint Polycarp
Church with the relics and the holy lance for many years. Then the
lance was taken to the Santissimo Rossario Catholic Church, which
was established 110 years ago,” he said.

Vatican-approved relic

Negro said the relics had been moved throughout history, and continued:
“We don’t have a mathematical proof, but it was determined that the
lance dates back to the 1st century. What was told and the wound
of Jesus confirm the holy lance according to the church. There are
three known holy lances; we know that one of them is in our church
in Vienna. Nobody knows which one is the original.”

There are three classes of sacred relics. The first-class is a part of
the saint’s body, the second-class is a piece of the saint’s clothing
or something used by the saint, while the third-class is an object
which has been touched to a first-class relic. The class of the lance
in the Ä°zmir church is not clear.

Feeling the pain Jesus suffered

Churches were raven for relics in the Middle Ages, said Negro, adding,
“Churches were considered as rich as their relics.”

He said some religious scholars who had examined the lance in their
church were sure that it was the original mentioned in the mythos and
this claim was officially documented in the 1800s. “The originality
of the lance was traditionally approved and sealed by the Vatican
and the seal of the document, which tells the history of the lance,
cannot be opened.”

Negro said the legend of lance dated back to the 3rd-4th centuries
and the approval dated back to the 15th century.

The relics meant respect for their society, said Negro, and the
Spear of Longinus reminded of the pain Jesus had suffered. “While
commemorating the day when Jesus died, we put the lance’s protective
case on the altar. After the prayer, we decorated the holy lance
with flowers. In this way, we show believers Jesus’ pain better,”
Negro said.

May/13/2014

TURKISH, ARMENIAN ACTIVISTS DISCUSS NORMALIZATION PROCESS

Today’s Zaman (Turkey)
May 12, 2014 Monday

by SINEM CENGIZ

A group of Turkish activists came together with their Armenian
counterparts on Monday in the Armenian capital of Yerevan at a training
course with the aim of debating the future of the Turkish-Armenian
reconciliation process.

Organized by the eight Turkish and Armenian nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) as part of the “Support to Turkey-Armenia
Rapprochement Project” and funded by the European Union, the training
course entitled “Closed Borders, Open Minds” aims to support for the
better ties between Ankara and Yerevan which have been cool over the
1915 events.

The first training course takes place in Yerevan from May 12-18 with
the participation of 20 Turkish and Armenian activists, and the second
will take place in Istanbul in September.

The aim of the course is to deepen the two sides’ awareness of their
shared history; shape positive opinions; and clarify political contexts
with regard to the Armenia-Turkey normalization process. it also aims
to create a platform for future cross-border cooperation by bringing
together youth leaders from both countries and to serve as a framework
for intercultural dialogue and communication between the participants.

The project’s participants aim to work with policy-makers to advocate
a faster Armenia-Turkey normalization process. The participants listed
their expectations for the course as follows: “The outcome of the
project should have an impact on a governmental and societal level,
develop relations between universities in both countries and raise
public awareness regarding Turkish-Armenian rapprochement.”

A historic reconciliation process was launched between Turkey and
Armenia in 2009, when the two sides signed protocols to normalize
diplomatic relations, but the move was not well received by
neighboring Azerbaijan. The protocols, signed in Zurich, shook
Turkish-Azerbaijani relations, as a territorial conflict between
Armenia and Azerbaijan regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh area has yet
to be resolved. The ratification of the protocols stalled after
Turkey insisted that Armenia first agree to find a solution to the
long-standing Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

Meanwhile, 2015 marks the centennial of the tragic events of 1915
that led to the relocation of the Armenian population from Anatolia
by the Ottoman Empire during World War i; as it approaches, tension
and preparations have been gaining momentum in Turkey and Armenia.

Backed by many historians, Armenia says about 1.5 million Armenians
were killed in what is now eastern Turkey during World War i in a
deliberate policy of genocide ordered by the Ottoman government.

Turkey says there were heavy losses of life on both sides during
the fighting, in which Armenian partisans supported invading Russian
forces.

Meanwhile, French President Francois Hollande paid an official visit to
Armenia on Monday. Before his visit to Yerevan, Hollande had stated
that France would make a strong effort for the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict to be resolved through negotiations, according to reports.

FRENCH PRESIDENT HIGHLIGHTS INVESTMENTS IN ARMENIA

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
May 13 2014

13 May 2014 – 9:45am

French President Francois Hollande said at a joint business forum
in Armenia yesterday that France was the biggest Western investor in
Armenia, News.am reports.

He clarified that over half of EU investments in Armenia (about 120
million euros this year) belonged to France. However, the president
noted that France was only the tenth largest business partner of
Armenia.

Hollande reminded that France had an Armenian community of 500,000
people.

ARMENIA’S C.BANK CUTS REFINANCING RATE TO 7.25 PCT FROM 7.50 PCT

Reuters
May 13 2014

YEREVAN May 13 (Reuters) – Armenia’s central bank cut its key
refinancing rate to 7.25 percent from 7.50 percent on Tuesday after
data showed annual inflation within the government’s 2014 target.

Annual inflation was 4.4 percent in April, the central bank said, up
from 3.8 percent recorded in March. That is within the government’s
target range of between 2.5 percent and 5.5 percent for 2014.

Monthly inflation in April was 0.5 percent, compared to deflation of
0.4 percent in March.

The central bank kept its refinancing rate unchanged at 7.50 percent
in March. (Reporting by Hasmik Lazarian; Writing by Margarita Antidze;
Editing by Megan Davies)

ZONE BROUGHT AT EDGE OF WAR

Igor Muradyan, Political Analyst
Comments – Monday, 12 May 2014, 15:43

The government agency called the ministry of foreign affairs of the
‘zone’ has announced through its most popular functionary Shavarsh
Kocharyan that there is nothing new in the speech of the U.S. co-chair
of the Minsk Group.

Had the MFA of the ‘zone’ confessed that there is something new in
this statement, the head of this agency Edward Nalbandyan should
have been tried in a demonstrative trial for the failure of foreign
policy, as well as high treason. Had there been ‘nothing new’ in this
statement, the minister of defense Seiran Ohanyan would not make an
urgent statement in reaction to this nightmare.

The administration of the ‘disputable territories’ also hurried to
react. Hence, those reacted who are responsible for blood or, in
other words, war. Edward Nalbandyan is not responsible for blood. He
is not responsible for anything at all.

The political leadership of the ‘zone’ understood at once that
inflating a discussion on the report would illustrate the complete
foreign political failure and the absurd in which the ‘zone’ has
appeared. The ‘zone’ was led by hand from the safest situation in
its history into a disaster.

The global system of security with the supremacy of the United
States conducted a policy of ‘dual containment’ of Turkey and
Russia in which the ‘zone’ acquired great importance. However, this
situation determined the perspective of loss of power and altogether
a significant public status of the current elite and those serving it.

It was impossible. Hence, the ‘zone’ has been led to the edge beyond
which is a new war.

J. Warlick’s report is a conceptually worded challenge to Russia’s
system in the South Caucasus and beyond where Russia is trying
to establish its political dominance. The United States has never
announced about the possibility of war as something inevitable in the
South Caucasus, which indicates a revision of its regional policy. The
United States has made it clear that its policy aimed at stability in
the South Caucasus cannot have the same expression because it plays on
support to the positions of the direct opponents of the United States.

While these opponents played ‘moderate games’, the American policy
remains the same but now it has lost every meaning. The United
States will not make efforts and political expenditure to contain
war in the region. From now on the United States is interested in
confrontation and escalation in the Black Sea and Caucasian region as
an important factor of influence and intensification of a creative
regional geopolitical game. Among scenarios which were narrated in
Lragir.am’s publications, this scenario or scenarios were put forth,
and therefore this situation is not something new but the situation has
changed cardinally, and it is time to remember about previous warnings.

What will intensification of confrontations in the Black Sea-Caucasian
region mean to the interests of the United States?

First of all, Russia’s geopolitical isolation is intensifying. In
addition to this, not only Russia is concerned but the entire
Russian military, political and economic system over a vast space is
concerned. All the elements of this system will encounter pressure
and mandatory choice at best. Apparently, our ‘zone’ will have no
right and opportunity to choose.

Nobody cares about the choice by the ‘zone’. The ‘zone’ has become an
element of the system, and its interests will not be taken into account
in any way and anywhere. The United States is interested in complete
elimination of the ‘zone’ as it is a hindrance to implementation of
its interests and interests of its partners and allies.

Immediately after ‘September 3’ the Americans could offer the ‘zone’
only one way that has no alternatives – normalization with Turkey
and Azerbaijan. They communicated this to the ‘zone’ substantially
and specifically, using different channels and means. J. Warlick’s
report is part of this initiative which was put forth last fall only
at the level of experts.

The ‘zone’ was let understand that normalization with Turkey and
Azerbaijan and territorial concessions are the only way of keeping
relative sovereignty and save the ‘zone’ as an ethnic hotbed.

The irony is in that improvement of relations between the United States
and Turkey is not so strategic, not to say temporary. In other words,
the concessions of the ‘zone’ may be considered in a short-term policy,
whereas in terms of perspectives the United States does not claim
responsibility and does not express interest in the new configuration
in this direction.

At the same time, the containment policy of the United States on Turkey
and Azerbaijan in terms of security of the ‘zone’ was determined by
the factor of the ‘zone’, not the factor of Russia which the United
States viewed as one of the multiple factors of containment of Turkish
expansion in the region. As a result of occurrence of a new situation
the ‘zone’ has lost the political support of the Western community,
first of all the United States and NATO in terms of its security.

The ‘zone’ was not within NATO’s responsibility and did not have
similar formal duties on behalf of the United States but it had full
political support which is not little, and had stepped on the way to
a more serious stage of integration with NATO and supply of arms from
member states of the alliance. Now everything has been lost, and the
west has finally figured out this obscure problem called the ‘zone’.

The ‘zone’ has appeared in the role of direct opponent of the United
States and NATO, and one may expect repetition of the Yugoslavian
scenario.

Having appeared in such a lamentable state of international isolation,
the ‘zone’ has become Russia’s finger puppet which will never and
under no conditions hold a biased position in a future conflict,
and the CSTO is a dummy as it is unable to agree on simply political
issues. The CSTO is a hangout of lost and confused presidents of
‘zones’ in Putin’s anteroom in a narrow circle of solitude.

However, everything will not be limited to one ‘zone’. One of the
strategic goals of the West is intensification of confrontation
between Turkey and Russia, and therefore all the political hindrances
on this track will be removed while, at the same time, factors
for confrontation will be created. In this respect the shift of
responsibility by the West for the ‘zone’ is more than obvious.

The plans are obvious, and they already suppose military defeat of
the ‘zone’ in the war with Azerbaijan, already with Turkey’s support,
and demonstration of military and political inconsistency of Russia
and CSTO. It would be an important and effective lever of collapse
of the Russian system.

Of course, Russia will try to give the ‘disputable territories’
to Azerbaijan and strengthen its own foothold, and at the same time
normalize its relations with Turkey but it will not be allowed to,
and the ‘disputable territories’ will be given to Azerbaijan but not
as part of the Russian plan.

At present, the zonal society is confused as much as its government but
still denies that this is the only way to save from great delusions in
the result of repetition of history. The zonal propaganda keeps its
tail between its legs and is trying to pretend that nothing special
has happened. War is awaiting us, whether a propagandist or a deserter,
the essence does not change.

– See more at:

ARMENIA SHOULD RETURN FIVE OCCUPIED DISTRICTS TO AZERBAIJAN, HEIKO LANGNER SAYS

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
May 12 2014

11 May 2014 – 12:04pm

The basic principles of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution
voiced by OSCE co-chair James Warlick are quite sane, German political
analyst Heiko Langner told Vestnik Kavkaza in an interview.

According to Langner, Armenia should withdraw its military forces from
five Azerbaijani districts adjacent to Karabakh so that Azerbaijani
people, who lived there before the occupation, can return to their
homes.

A possible interim status for Karabakh itself would be a good temporary
solution, which could stop mutual hatred and raise trust, the German
expert believes.