Author: Kanayan Tamar

‘NONE OF THE BOYS WENT TO WAR FOR MONEY OR POSTS’ – MANVEL GRIGORYAN

16:28 * 28.01.14

Chairman of the Yerkrapah union of volunteers, Republican Party of
Armenia (RPA) parliamentary group member, Lieutenant-General Manvel
Grigoryan visited the Yerablur pantheon on the occasion of the 22nd
anniversary of the Armenian Army.

“We must face difficulties. But we’ll succeed. The boys that fought
in that war deserve all the best. None of them went to war for money
or posts,” General Grigoryan told reporters.

Speaking of the patriotic spirit in the country and of the probability
of war, he said: “The one claiming the boys will not go to war is a
liar. He is not an Armenian.”

As to freedom-fighters’ social problems, Grigoryan said: “All the
problems cannot be resolved in a moment. We must be the first to
provide 18-year-old soldiers at the border with everything.”

According to him, the war is not over.

“We have had this situation for 25 years. We are defending our border.

A peace treaty has not been signed. Villagers cannot cultivate lands
in the borderland. This is the Armenian people’s destiny. My only wish
is that all of us come to realize that both good and bad things are
ours. We must unite to meet the challenges. When we were united we
gained victories. Our boys gained victory over the Azerbaijani army,
which was much more powerful.”

Armenian News – Tert.am

ATTORNEY PHOTOGRAPHER SARA ANJARGOLIAN EYES SOCIAL INJUSTICE IN ARMENIA

WNN – Women News Network
Jan 28 2014

Svetlana Bachevanova – WNN Features

An Armenian shrine to dead son Araik Avedisyan has been set up in the
bedroom that is still reserved only for him in his family home. Image:
Sara Anjargolian

(WNN) New York, New York, UNITED STATES, AMERICAS: With a 2002
Fulbright Scholarship U.S. California based Armenian American
photographer and attorney Sara Anjargolian fell in love with Armenia,
the country connected to her from childhood. But as she began to
explore the region her experience in law school reminded her, “It’s
important to look at ‘the-story-within-the-story’.”

Documenting Armenian government impunity from 2011 to 2012 Anjargolian
brought the mystery, as she puts it, of one of the most “secretive”
institutions in the country, the veil of impunity within Armenia’s
military industry. With military suicides that just ‘do not add up’
the relatives of dead soldiers continue to ask for more supervised
and detailed investigations. Numerous relatives who have received
death announcements from the Ministry of Defense in the suicide of
their son, brother, father or husband don’t believe the Armenian army
has given them the complete truth.

Without proof of the suicides families have been left to their own
devices to investigate and carefully retrace the steps leading up to
the death of their family member. Innocuously Armenia’s Ministry of
Defense continues to ignore many of the cases that families say need
to be re-opened and investigated thoroughly.

My son’s suicide just “doesn’t make sense” say many of the mothers who
have lost their sons, some only a few months after their son enlisted
in the army. Some also believe that unexplained tampering and cover-up
by the military may have occurred in the death of their sons.

As the Armenian army continues to brush aside most claims that the
deaths are “not suicide,” the deaths have created many more questions
than answers.

“As of October 31, [2013] the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor
office had reported 29 noncombat army deaths [within the ranks of the
Armenian army], including 7 suicides. Local human rights groups have
documented the Defense Ministry’s failure to investigate adequately
and expose the circumstances of noncombat deaths and to account for
evidence of violence in cases where the death is ruled a suicide,”
outlined Human Rights Watch recently in their annual World Report
2014 Armenia update.

“…I discovered that the entire system in all sectors and at all
levels – including the investigators, the medical examiners, and the
courts – is set up to conspire against the truth,” said Anjargolian.

In her interview with award-winning photojournalist Svetlana
Bachevanova, Sara Anjargolian talks about corruption and those who
want to stop it in Armenia.

As co-founder and publisher for FotoEvidence, working in the tradition
of using photography to draw attention to human rights violations,
injustice and oppression, Bachevanova is considered one of the world’s
experts in today’s field of photographic expose. As curator for the
July 2013 show mOther Armenia, in Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan,
Bachevanova helped for very first time to show perspectives of some
of the best women photographers in the region.

“Women in Armenia still battle to establish a career,” outlined
Bachevanova at the time of the show. “Women are still expected to
be full time mothers and housekeepers. But these ten documentarians
broke the rules and found a way to pursue careers and create powerful
bodies of work.”

__________

Svetlana Bachevanova: In your recent work, “An Absent Presence,”
you have been witnessing and documenting the challenges of non-combat
fatalities in the Armenian military today. What did you discover?

Sara Anjargolian: I have been documenting social justice issues in
the former Soviet republic of Armenia for years, and the topic of
human rights abuses in the military was one of the most difficult I
have tackled. Not only are the activities of the military shrouded
in secrecy under the guise of “national security,” but I discovered
that the entire system in all sectors and at all levels – including
the investigators, the medical examiners, and the courts – is set up
to conspire against the truth.

SB: Human rights groups believe that many reported suicides in the
Armenian army are really homicides involving complicit army officers
tampering with evidence and covering up these crimes. Is this the case?

SA: Yes, human rights organizations estimate the number of non-combat
deaths since Armenia’s armed forces were established to be between
1500 and 3000 – although the facts of each case are deliberately
convoluted. Most of the time, we don’t actually know what happened.

Usually “something” triggers a situation where a soldier ends up
dead – sometimes the situation is triggered by a commander who loses
control, sometimes it involves a group of soldiers hazing one soldier,
and sometimes a soldier witnesses illegal activity (like a narcotics
trade as in the case of Valery Muradyan or the stealing of fuel as in
the case of Arthur Ghazaryan) – and it seems that their witnessing
of these crimes leads to their death, and a fake suicide is staged
to cover up the murder.

SB: How did you learn about these issues in the Armenian military
and why did you decide to start working on this project?

SA: I photographed a series of protests two years ago in Armenia’s
capital Yerevan involving families of soldiers who had died in
non-combat situations and who were demanding that the military and
government uncover what had happened to their sons. I wanted to know
more about this situation and began working on the project.

SB: Was it difficult to enter and photograph inside one of the most
secretive institution in Armenia?

SA: Photographing on the frontlines and military bases was not the
most difficult part – what is difficult is finding out the truth of
what happened in these cases. The military and legal system is set
up such that facts in these cases are buried in years of incompetent
investigations, layers of corruption, and a complete lack of motivation
in uncovering the truth.

Deceased soldier Valerik Muradyan’s mother Nana sits alone on her
son’s bed in his almost untouched bedroom in her home. Valerik’s body
was found hanging from a metal pipe at the Haykazov military base in
Nagorno-Karabakh where he was serving. The military says he committed
suicide. Nana believes her son was killed and the suicide was staged
to cover up the murder. Image: Sara Anjargolian

SB: The story you showed for first time in the “mOTHER ARMENIA” exhibit
has two sides: the military that wants to present itself as a strong,
disciplined defender of the nation and the families who lost sons
to suspicious, non-combat deaths and question the discipline and
integrity of the military: Where does the truth lie?

SA: That is precisely the question I am asking through this work –
how can these two realities exist next to one another? I would like
for the viewers of this work to answer that question for themselves…

SB: How did the parents of the lost soldiers respond to your interest
in telling their sons’ stories?

SA: Generally very responsive. Since the military and legal system
has not provided a credible forum through which these families can
seek redress, they are more than willing to seek alternative channels,
such as the court of public opinion, to tell their sons’ stories.

SB: Is there a story you heard that still haunts you?

SA: What haunts me are the photographs the families shared with me
of the way their sons were found at the scene of the incident – one
hanging from a metal pipe, the other with a Kalashnikov in his mouth,
the other with a bruised body – I looked at these images for only a
day – these families live with these photographs, study them in detail
day-after-day, trying to figure out what happened to their children.

But what haunts me even more is the feeling in my stomach when I
leave the families homes, or when I leave the frontlines – that
sinking feeling of not being able to “change” anything.

SB: It is an act of bravery to try to uncover what lies behind
the deaths of soldiers that happened under mysterious and violent
circumstances, sometimes even involving drug trafficking. Do you
worry about your own security?

SA: There are moments when I think about whether or not I should be
afraid, but mostly I am so focused on the story and making sure the
work is true to the essence of the situation that I don’t have much
time to worry about it. Not telling this story is not an option.

SB: How has the public in Armenia responded to your work?

SA: Very positive and supportive so far. In conjunction with the
Open Society Foundation office in Yerevan (which also funded the
project)…[a photography exhibit was sponsored].

SB: Do you think your work will prod the Armenian military to be
more open about non-combatant deaths and help the families of lost
soldiers find answers to their questions?

SA: It is always difficult to define if and how social justice
reportage will influence the situation it seeks to portray and
illuminate. I define success as being involved in the process of
change even if I personally do not see the final result.

In October 2011 family members of those who have died mysteriously
while serving in non-combat duty in the Armenian army protest in front
of the Republic of Armenia’s Presidential Palace of President Serzh
Sargsyan in the capital city of Yerevan. As mothers hold pictures of
their dead sons saying their sons did not commit suicide the Armenian
government continues to refuse to investigate claims of abuse and
deadly bullying inside the army ranks. Family members say that the
facts in the continuing deaths just don’t make sense as they ask for
cases inside the military to be properly and thoroughly investigated.

Non-combat deaths in 2014 are continuing to happen within the Armenian
army without government investigation.

SO WINDS UP SIXTH IN DUTCH TOURNEY; ARMENIAN WINS

Business Mirror
Jan 28 2014

Details Category: Sports
28 Jan 2014

GRANDMASTER Wesley So finished tied with two others at fourth place
but wound up sixth after the tiebreak at the close of the 76th Tata
Steel Masters chess tournament in Rijksmuseum, The Netherlands.

So (2719), named Chess Player of the Year by the Philippine
Sportswriters Association (PSA), settled for another draw, this time
against GM Fabiano Caruana (2782) to join the Italian and Cuban GM
Leinier Dominguez (2754) from fourth to sixth place. The Webster
University sophomore earned the PSA honor after winning the gold
medal in the 27th Kazan Summer Universiad in Russia.

The 20-year-old So, however, finished sixth overall after the tiebreak
in the World Chess Federation (Fide) Category 20 tournament. He scored
three wins, two losses and six draws.

Armenian GM Levon Aronian (2812) clinched the overall title with
8.0 points followed by GM Anish Giri of the Netherlands (2809) and
Russian GM Sergey Karjakin (2759).

Indian GM Pentala Harikrishna (2706), Dutch GM Loek Van Wely (2713),
Japanese-American GM Hikaru Nakamura (2703), GM Boris Gelfand of
Israel (2675), GM Richard Rapport of Hungary (2614) and German GM
Arkadij Naiditsch (2718) rounded up the standings.

Wijk aan Zee and the high-tech Campus Eidhoven were the other venues
of the Tata chess tournament.

(With Nico Concepcion)

DIALOGUE CAN LEAD TO ACKNOWLEDGMENT

EDITORIAL | JANUARY 28, 2014 1:44 PM
________________________________

By Raffi Bedrosyan

In a previous article (Dec. 28, 2013 – Emulate Zoryan Institute and
Bring Armenian History in Turkish to Turks) about the approaching
2015 centennial of the Armenian Genocide, I had argued about the
necessity of focusing the Armenians’ limited resources to support
independent academic research, continuing to bring out the truth
and facts of 1915 toward establishing a “common body of knowledge”
between the Turks and Armenians. In this article, I will elaborate on
the necessity to deliver those 1915 facts and truth directly to the
Turkish people, will outline some of the obstacles created by the
denialist policies of the Turkish state, and finally, will provide
a few suggestions for the Turkish state to consider by 2015.

Meaningful dialogue between two conflicting parties can only happen
if both parties are aware of the facts and the truth. Even though the
Turkish state has not allowed the truth and the facts of 1915 to come
out until recently, there are now clear signs that the taboos about
1915 are finally broken and that there is a “common body of knowledge”
emerging among the Turkish opinion makers and ordinary citizens. For
four generations, the Turkish citizens were brainwashed about 1915
by the state education system and the media. However, Turkish people
can no longer be defined as a homogenous, uniform group. Clashes
between the Turkish state and the sizable Kurdish/Alevi population,
as well as the prosecution and punishment of the “deep state” leaders
who ruled Turkey until a few years ago, have become recent factors in
questioning the state version of history regarding the 1915 events. A
few bright personalities in politics, academia, media and literature,
i.e. opinion makers, have advocated increased democratization, freedom
of speech and minority rights; moreover, they have acknowledged the
truth about 1915 and demanded that the state also do so. There is
now a small but fast increasing segment of the population which wants
the state to face the past about the 1915 events.

To date, there have been few attempts of dialogue between the Armenian
world and this liberalized segment of the Turkish population and
opinion makers. Apart from the activities of the Hrant Dink Foundation
based in Istanbul, the only contacts by Armenians have been through
a few individuals in academia, film, media, music and culture, and
organizationally by the Zoryan Institute in the academic field,
by the Armenian NGO Civilitas through its recently opened office
in Istanbul, and some recent political exchanges between Kurdish
political parties and representatives of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation. Armenian academia, NGOs and opinion makers should aim
at direct contact with their Turkish counterparts in conveying the
truth in Turkish, through jointly organized conferences, seminars,
TV programs, films and translated publications. For example, ordinary
Turks should find out about the courageous Turkish government officials
who resisted the inhumane government decisions to annihilate the
Armenian population in 1915. They should learn about the fate of the
properties left behind by the annihilated Armenians, including hundreds
of thousands of houses, fields, shops, warehouses, factories, mines,
churches and schools, all confiscated by the state, Ittihat Terakki
leaders or local Moslem notables. They should understand that most
of the Ataturk House Museums scattered all over Anatolia belonged
to deported or murdered Armenian citizens of the Ottoman state. They
should be reminded that the very residence where the Turkish President
sits today in Ankara, was once owned by an Armenian family.

Of course, the Turkish state will continue using all its resources
to prevent its citizens from finding out the truth. Notwithstanding
the boasts of the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan that their archives
are open and they have nothing to hide, the reality is that their
archives are not entirely open and have gone through two major
cleanups. The first cleanup and destruction of files was back in
1918, when the Ittihat Terakki leaders escaped from Istanbul in
a German warship in order to avoid prosecution as war criminals,
carrying several trunkloads of documents with them. At the same time,
the main planner of the Armenian deportations and massacres, Special
Organization Chief Bahattin Shakir also burned rooms full of documents
related to their activities. The second purging was in the 1990s when
the Ottoman Archives were reorganized, translated into modern Turkish
and digitized. A team of diplomats, historians, retired ambassadors
and military officers sifted through millions of documents with the
objective of eliminating any incriminating reference to the Armenians.

Recent Wikileaks documents indicate that the Ottoman archival
documents, initially estimated at 50 million records, turned out to
be more like 200 million and therefore, the intended purge could not
be carried out effectively. Obviously, several thousand documents
escaped scrutiny and a few prominent Turkish scholars like Taner
Akcam, Umit Kurt and Ugur Ungor have been able to produce significant
historic facts about the intended annihilation of the Armenians and
confiscation of their properties, based only on the Ottoman archives.

It was recently revealed that all researchers delving into the
Armenian issue in the Ottoman archives were being tracked and
monitored. If their work was deemed to be against the state version,
there would be harassment and funding repercussions against them and
the institutions where they worked/studied. Meanwhile, researchers
who produce/falsify/create documents minimizing Armenian losses are
encouraged and rewarded. In 2005, Murat Bardakci, an investigative
journalist, published Talaat Pasha’s diary revealing that Talaat
had kept detailed records about the numbers and destination of the
deported Armenians, had tallied the loss of Armenians at 972,000,
but had also stated that the total missing could exceed 1.2 million
due to unaccounted relocations. During a recent TV talk show about
history called Rear Window of History, Bardakci had invited a history
professor from Sakarya University, a state sponsored ‘expert’ on the
Armenian issue, where this expert announced that the archives show
the Ottoman government took all precautions to care for the 300,000
Armenians temporarily deported ‘only’ from the eastern war front,
that ‘only’ a few thousand died from illness, but most of them safely
returned home after the war. Bardakci then confronted him by producing
Talaat Pasha’s diary and the numbers that Talaat himself had quoted;
the expert said he can only work with whatever is available in the
state archives. He also announced that Turkish historians have now
“proven” that all the genocide allegations are “fiction,” based on
American Ambassador Morgenthau’s book, which was specifically produced
as a propaganda tool to drum up support for the United States to enter
the war. Even Bardakci found this expert’s comments embarrassing for
Turkey, which would result in more ridicule internationally and weaken
Turkey’s hand further in the eve of 2015.

If Prime Minister Erdogan really wants to prove that Turkey has
nothing to hide in the Armenian issue, all he has to do is order
the release of two sets of critical documents – the deportation
books and the deeds. First set of documents is the 33 dossiers of
the Deportation and Liquidation Commissions formed in 1915-16 in
various Ottoman Anatolian provinces, recording, listing, appraising,
and holding on deposit the assets of the deported Armenians for
their eventual return, but also selling or distributing some of
the Armenian assets to Moslem refugees. The whereabouts of these
dossiers is a mystery but speculated that they are still intact
and kept in the Prime Ministry offices. The second set of documents
is the Ottoman land registry and property deeds records. In 2005,
when the government attempted to comply with European Union (EU)
modernization initiatives by translating and opening up these records
to the public, it was prevented from doing so by a stern warning —
dated August 26, 2005 — from the National Security Committee of the
Turkish Armed Forces, which stated that “The Ottoman records kept at
the Land Register and Cadaster Surveys General Directorate offices
must be sealed and not available to the public, as they have the
potential to be exploited by alleged genocide claims and property
claims against the State Charitable Foundation assets. Opening them
to general public use is against state interests”…

Recently, it came to light that a former prime minister had come
close to taking a positive step toward the Armenian issue. Being a
very pragmatic politician, in the early 1990s Turgut Ozal had wished
the issue to be resolved by ending the Turkish denialist policy, and
he had commissioned a study to quantify the amount of compensation
needed to be paid to the Armenians worldwide. It is reported that the
study did come up with a monetary figure but no further steps were
taken, either because the cost would be exorbitant, or because Ozal
suddenly and mysteriously died in 1993. His sudden death is still
subject of speculation today after 20 years, with his body recently
exhumed and examined for presence of poisons. It is said that he was
severely criticized by the military and the deep state, not only for
this Armenian episode, but more critically, for his desire to end
the separatist Kurdish issue by giving concessions to them.

Based on feedback and comments on my past articles, there seems to be
significantly wide readership in Turkey and within their government
circles. A recurring theme I hear is that the present government,
unlike the previous ones, has taken a lot of positive steps toward
the Armenians, and yet, there is no acknowledgement or reciprocating
goodwill from the Armenian side. The positive examples cited include
the restoration of Akhtamar Holy Cross Church (note: still known as
Akdamar Museum in Turkey), return of several confiscated properties
belonging to the Armenian church and charitable foundations (note:
returns still less than 10 percent of properties seized after 1930’s,
none from before 1915 and none of the private properties), increased
freedom of speech with utterance of the term ‘Armenian Genocide’ no
longer a punishable offense (note: but still people like Hrant Dink
can get killed for uttering it and still the real murderers can remain
hidden), and so on. I do acknowledge that these are positive steps in
the right direction, but only a few steps toward a mile long journey.

Perhaps the mile long journey cannot be completed by 2015, but several
concrete and specific steps need to be taken by Turkey in order to
achieve some credibility and respectability. Instead of diversionary
tactical steps like Foreign Minister Davutoglu’s recent visit to
Armenia, which achieved nothing, I will humbly offer a few suggestions
for the consideration of my Turkish government acquaintances:

1. open the border with Armenia without any preconditions, re-name
the Alican border crossing as the Hrant Dink Gate, honoring the heroic
advocate of dialogue between the two peoples

2. grant citizenship to all living descendants of the deported
Ottoman citizen Armenians

3. clean up the textbooks at all levels of the educational system
by eliminating the falsifications, hatemongering and discrimination
toward Armenians (and other minorities)

4. initiate a state program by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism
to restore the more than 2000 destroyed or deteriorating Armenian
monasteries and churches, and return them to the rightful owner,
the Armenian Church (Istanbul Armenian Patriarchate)

5. offer a symbolic but meaningful apology to the Armenian people for
all the crimes of 1915, by returning Mount Ararat and Ani to Armenia,
perhaps as part of a territorial exchange based on equivalent land area

6. open up to the public the afore-mentioned documents related to
the deportation/liquidation records and the Ottoman property deeds
related to the deported Armenians

7. allow personal compensation cases by the descendants of the Ottoman
citizen Armenians related to their confiscated properties to proceed
in Turkish and international courts

8. offer free transit and duty free port facilities for Armenia at
a Black Sea city such as Trabzon and Rize, as partial compensation
toward past economic losses of the Ottoman citizen Armenians

Turkish acquaintances in government circles complain that the
Armenians’ insistence in using the word Genocide is a barrier to any
progress toward dialogue about 1915. None of the suggestions above
refer to that word, and all of them are do-able by 2015, if there
really is goodwill. Once there is knowledge of the facts followed by
dialogue about the truth of 1915 among the Turkish opinion makers and
ordinary citizens, the far-reaching result would be the creation of
voters aware of the truth. Knowledgable voters would then vote in
knowledgable parliament members and eventually governments, which
would set policies and decisions according to the voters’ preferences.

I would suggest that decisions taken in the Turkish Parliament
respecting the truth of 1915 would be far more effective than any
decision taken in the parliaments of third party states.

Sources:

Vatan daily newspaper, September 12, 2011, ‘Bavul dolusu Ermeni
belgesi kacirildi’ (Trunkloads of Armenian documents were taken out)

Zaman daily newspaper, April 24, 2012, ‘Ozal Yasasaydi Ermeni Sorununu
Cozecekti’ (If Ozal had lived, he would have solved the Armenian issue’

Internethaber news online, December 12, 2013, ‘Turkiye’de skandal:
Ermeni meselesini calisan ogrenciler fislendi’ (Scandal in Turkey:
Students researching the Armenian issue are being monitored)

Murat Bardakci, Talaat Pasanin Evrak-i Metrukesi (Talaat Pasha’s
Black Book), 2005, Everest Yayinlari (Everest Publishing House)

(Raffi Bedrosyan is a civil engineer and concert pianist, living
in Toronto, Canada. He has donated concert and CD proceedings to
infrastructure projects in Armenia and Karabagh, in which he has also
participated as an engineer. He helped organize the reconstruction of
the Surp Giragos Diyarbakir/Dikranagerd Church and the first Armenian
reclaim of church properties in Anatolia after 1915. He gave the
first piano concert in the Surp Giragos Church since 1915.)

– See more at:

HOLLANDE VISIT AIMS TO REPAIR ROCKY RELATIONS WITH TURKEY

EuroNews – English Version
January 27, 2014 Monday

French President Francois Hollande, on a two day visit to Turkey, is
hoping to improve the often prickly relations between Paris and Ankara.

Hollande attended a ceremony at the mausoleum to Turkey’s founder,
Kemal Ataturk.

The euronews reporter on the ground says that Ankara is hoping that
this first visit by a French president in two decades will remove
obstacles to EU entry.

In return France wants Turkey to remove trade barriers erected after
French attempts to outlaw the denial of the Armenian genocide.

At a press conference Hollande spoke of the challenge a country faces
when it wrestles with its past.

“The task of remembering is always painful, but it must be done,”
he said. “What we have to work for is reconciliation by looking for
what happened and by recognising what happened.”

Turkish President Abdullah Gul took a different position, recommending
that they not relive the suffering of a hundred years ago.

“In this case what needs to be done,” he said, “is leave it to
historians”.

Trade barriers will occupy the next leg of Holland’s trip. In Istanbul
he will attend a forum for French and Turkish business leaders.

LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL RECOGNIZES INDEPENDENCE OF ARTSAKH

[ Part 2.2: “Attached Text” ]

20:31, 28 January, 2014

YEREVAN, JANUARY 28, ARMENPRESS. One of the largest cities in
the United States Los Angeles City Council unanimously recognized
the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent and sovereign
state. “Armenpress” reports that the resolution notes that
the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh contributes to the stability in the
region of Caucasus conducting free and fair elections. A reaction is
made on the fight for self-determination of Nagorno-Karabakh which
inspired many people in the region as well. At the same time an appeal
is made to the international community to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic as a free, independent and sovereign state. The author of
the resolution is Los Angeles Council member of Armenian nationality
Paul Grigorian.

ependence-of-artsakh.html

ASHOT GHULIAN: YOUNGER GENERATION CONTINUES STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM

Tuesday,
January
28

On this day 22 years ago residents of the village of Karin Tak armed
with homemade guns and grenades ran Á 3.5-year-long blockade from
the direction of the city of Shushi, drove the enemy back and stopped
artillery shelling of the village.

Today residents of Karin Tak village in Shushi region of the NKR
laid flowers at the monument to those killed in the Karabakh war and
then went to the local entertainment center to watch the premiere of
‘Karin Tak is Harder than Stone’ film. They also had the opportunity to
express their opinions about the book ‘Karin Tak: Liberation Struggle’
by Maxim Hovhannisian and Vardges Baghrian.

The event was attended by the speaker of the NKR parliament Ashot
Ghulian and other officials, according to karabakh-open.info.

“Today the Line of Contact is many kilometers away from Karin Tak, but
the struggle goes on,” Ashot Ghulian said. In his words, the younger
generation now continues the struggle for the homeland’s freedom.

Aysor.am

UK AMBASSADOR JONATHAN AVES ISSUES MESSAGE ON ARMY DAY

January 28, 2014 | 13:52

YEREVAN. – UK Ambassador to Armenia issued a message to congratulate
Armenian people on the Army Day.

“I would like to congratulate the Armenian people on the Army Day
holiday. Britain has a long-standing programme of bilateral defence
assistance with Armenia. We look forward to continuing our cooperation
in the coming year,” he wrote on Facebook.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

PRICES WILL SOAR AFTER MEMBERSHIP TO CUSTOMS UNION

The Armenian Time has referred to the list of goods worked out by
the Ministry of Economy which will be taxed extra customs fees after
Armenia’s membership to the Customs Union. Food, medicine, a lot of
everyday goods will become expensive.

Beef price will go up by 5%. So far the customs fee was 10%. After
membership to the Customs Union customs fee on beef will be 15%.

Paltry will go up by 15% because the 10% customs fee will go up to
25%. Dairy products will go up by 8.3%, wheat by 5%, rice by 13%,
vegetable oil, medicine by 5%, soap and household chemicals by 13%,
petrol by 5% etc.

“On the whole, we will have to pay 100 million dollars more for goods
imported from the Customs Union. And it means that membership to the
Customs Union will additionally cost every family an annual 80,000
drams,” the newspaper states.

11:08 28/01/2014 Story from Lragir.am News:

QUI A-T-IL DERRIERE L’ACCORD GAZIER AVEC LA RUSSIE

ARMENIE

Le 16 Janvier, le gouvernement armenien a approuve l’accord sur le
transfert a la societe russe Gazprom de sa participation restante de 20
pour cent dans la filiale locale de distribution du gaz ArmRosGazprom
et a charge le ministre de l’Energie et des Ressources naturelles
Armen Movsisyan a signer l’accord avec le geant russe.

L’accord a attire des reactions et des evaluations extremement
negatives ainsi que certains mecontentement de la population en
Armenie. Quatre des six forces parlementaires ont boycotte le
vote a l’Assemblee nationale l’annee dernière. Mais la majorite
representee par le Parti du President Serge Sarkissian au pouvoir le
parti republicain et son partenaire de coalition, Orinats Yerkir, ont
vote la ratification. Selon l’accord, l’Armenie jusqu’en 2043 perd le
droit de faire des lois ou d’adopter d’autres actes lies a l’achat,
la vente ou le transit de gaz naturel.

C’est ce point de l’accord qui est considere comme particulièrement
discriminatoire. Dans sa dernière interview l’ancien president Robert
Kotcharian a declare que les droits exclusifs ont ete accordes au
monopole russe. > a demande
Kotcharian dans ses remarques.

Les changements prennent place sur les marches regionaux et mondiaux de
l’energie. En particulier, le renforcement des relations entre l’Iran
et l’Occident, la suppression d’un certain nombre de sanctions contre
l’Iran ont conduit a une negociation acharnee pour le transport et
le transit du petrole iranien et du gaz. L’Armenie pourrait devenir
la voie de transit la plus court pour lui mais en raison des accords
avec la Russie Erevan a dû refuser des propositions liees au gaz de
Teheran. En particulier, il y a eu un rejet poli quand l’ambassadeur
d’Iran en Armenie a declare officiellement que l’Iran est pret a
vendre du gaz naturel a l’Armenie a des prix inferieurs a la Russie.

On ne sait pas s’il y avait une proposition concernant le transit
de gaz naturel a travers l’Armenie, mais les experts ont discute
de cette option. Mais maintenant, les analystes disent que meme si
l’Iran decide de mettre en oeuvre ce transit a travers l’Armenie,
il devra negocier non pas avec Erevan, mais avec Moscou qui detient
les droits exclusifs en Armenie.

Le Ministre iranien des Affaires etrangères etait a Moscou. Selon
les rapports officiels, il a discute de la cooperation commerciale et
economique avec le president russe Vladimir Poutine. Le Departement
d’Etat americain avait exprime son inquietude quant a la possibilite
que la Russie achete 500 000 barils de petrole iranien par jour en
vue d’une revente. Cependant, la partie iranienne a declare que cette
question n’etait pas a l’ordre du jour des negociations.

Depuis de nombreuses annees l’Iran et l’Armenie ont essaye d’etablir
un oleoduc, mais pour de nombreuses raisons ce projet a ete retarde.

Jusqu’a present, la Russie n’a pas ete en situation d’avoir le monopole
sur le marche du petrole en Armenie, mais il a recemment annonce que la
societe russe Rosneft avait prevu d’entrer sur le marche armenien. Les
experts disent que la societe petrolière russe pourrait devenir un
trader du petrole ayant le monopole en Armenie. Et il est possible
que si la Russie et l’Iran parviennent a s’entendre sur l’achat de
petrole, l’Armenie, ou plutôt son territoire, sera egalement implique
dans cette affaire et le pipeline sera finalement construit.

Par Naira Hayrumyan

ArmeniaNow

mardi 28 janvier 2014, Stephane (c)armenews.com