Author: Kanayan Tamar

Turkey should not distort essence of Karabakh conflict – deputy FM

tert.am
19:41 – 25.08.12

Turkey should not attempt to distort the essence of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict if it really wishes to assist in the current
conflict settlement efforts, a deputy minister of foreign affairs,
Shavarsh Kocharyan, has told Panorama.am.

Kocharyan particularly said that the country should avoid preventing
the people of Karabakh from exercising their right to
self-determination as it did in the late 1980s and the 1990s,
resorting to ethnic cleansing and large-scale military aggression.

`To achieve an effective settlement, Turkey had better urge Azerbaijan
to negotiate with the real conflicting party, i.e., Nagorno-Karabakh.
The least Turkey can do is to stop supporting Azerbaijan’s
all-or-nothing policy,’ he said, commenting on a recent statement by
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

Turkey’s top diplomat had particularly said that his country has
become a regional leader due to its efforts towards assisting in the
settlement of conflicts.

`We would like the negotiations over Syria to take place in Turkey. We
would also wish the meetings between Armenia and Azerbaijan to be held
in Istanbul,’ the Azerbaijani media quoted Davutoglu as saying.

Statement of Armenian NGOs

On February 19, 2004 in Budapest, Hungary, where the courses were held
in the framework of the NATO program ‘Partnership for Peace’, there
was a horrific event, which flatly denied the essence and meaning of
the program. Late at night Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov
penetrated into the room of classmates and brutally hacked sleeping
Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan with beforehand purchased ax. This
unprecedented crime disturbed not only Armenia and Hungary, but also
the whole Europe.

The trial of Safarov lasted more than two years, during which the
Azerbaijani side was trying to discredit the memory of the Armenian
officer, pushing against him many accusations, and to achieve for
criminal possible lenient sentence. During the trial have been
convincingly refuted all the accusations against the deceased officer
and proved their inadequacy and artificiality. Judge Andrash Vaskuti
and the prosecution had perfectly conducted the whole process,
strictly adhering to the wording and spirit of the Hungarian and
European legislation. Ramil Safarov was sentenced to the maximum
penalty: life imprisonment without a right filing a petition for a
pardon during the first 30 years. All appeals from the Azerbaijani
side were rejected.

Already in custody, Safarov had conducted an attack towards the prison
security guard
, which was the
basis for initiating against him another criminal case and impose a
second sentence.

Azerbaijani side from the first day has unsuccessfully tried to
extradite Safarov. Representatives of state and public structures
afforded statements justifying heinous crime. Thus, the Azerbaijani
Ombudsman Suleymanova said that ‘Safarov should be an example for
young people.’ Ramil Safarov was declared his country’s national
hero.

All the past 8 years, the Hungarian side has proven its commitment to
the norms of international law, rejecting any possibility of
extradition of criminal to his homeland. However, the Azerbaijani and
Turkish parties persist in their efforts to extradite Safarov. Thus,
the recent report proves the collection of signatures in Turkey, which
require proponents to reconsider the sentence, implementing
unreasonable and unacceptable historical parallels. Similar messages
appear regularly also in the Azerbaijani media.

We believe it is our duty to address the Hungarian public and
government agencies with an appeal to prevent the extradition of
Safarov to Azerbaijan, where it is certainly not expected further
punishment, but nothing more than freedom, honor and even greater
glorification. As evidence, we present only one sentence: a year ago
made by the head of the department of Political Analysis and
Information Support of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan
Elnur Aslanov said that ‘valor of those like Ramil Safarov gave
Azerbaijani society and people a second wind.’

We have no doubts that in Hungary are perfectly aware of the fact that
the hatred towards Armenians and xenophobia raised to the rank of
state policy of Azerbaijan. This was recorded in the report of the
European Commission against Racism and Intolerance for the year of
2011. We would like to remind that the President of Azerbaijan, in one
of his recent speeches called Armenians as enemy number one for
Azerbaijan. We also would like to remind that during the trial in
Budapest the attorney of Safarov stated that ‘killing an Armenian is
not a crime in Azerbaijan.’

Having said all it is even hard to imagine the consequences that may
result from extradition of Safarov to Azerbaijan. This is unacceptable
in the first place given the gravity of his crime and the attitude
towards that crime in Azerbaijan. But far more serious can be the
consequences in the context of relapse of the crime over the
world. For Azerbaijani youth, brought up to hate the Armenians and
glorify the killer, extradition will be a call to action in the
knowledge that the punishment will inevitably be soft, and the laurels
of hero killer of Armenians on this background will become too
attractive. In this case, the responsibility for the potential crimes
certainly will lie not only on Azerbaijan, but also on Hungary. It
should also be noted that the extradition against the frequent
violations of the ceasefire with Azerbaijan could spark a renewal of
bloody war.

We call upon the corresponding structures of friendly Hungary to think
about the inevitable consequences of such a step. Only in the country
of the crime, in the colony of strict regime Safarov must serve his
sentence, imposed on him by Hungarian court. This requires not only
the memory of Armenian young man brutally murdered, but the
obligations of Hungary, as the country, which has proven its
commitment to human rights norms, morality and humanity.

1. `Foundation Against Violation of Law’ NGO

Mikayel Aramyan – President

2. Gyumri Development Fund

Artush Lazarian – Chairperson

3. `Khoran Ard’ Intelectual Centre NGO

Armen Petrosyan – Executive Director

4. `Our Home Armenia’

Nikolai Babajanyan – Chairperson, Member of Armenian-Russian Union of NGOs

5. `Improve Our Village’ NGO

Anahit Tovmasyan – President

6. `Trtu’ Cultural NGO

Temik Khalapyan

7. Association ‘For Sustainable Human Development’

Karine Danielyan – Chairperson

8. ‘Foundation for Small and Medium Businesses’

Gagik Poghosyan – President

9. `Association of Foreign Investment and Cooperation’

Andranik Aleksanyan – Board President

10. Armenian Assembly of Azerbaijan

Grigory Ayvazyan – President

11. International Center for Human Development

Tevan Poghosyan – Executive Director

12. `Protection of Rights Without Borders’ NGO

Siranush Sahakyan – President

13. Guarantee Center Of Civil Society NGO

Sergey Gabrielyan

15:17:30 – 25/08/2012

Armenia’s maternal mortality rate falls in past five years

news.am
August 25, 2012 | 17:03

YEREVAN. – A total of 15, 13, 4 and 3 cases of maternal mortality were
recorded in Armenia in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 respectively. And
four such cases have been registered in the first seven months of the
current year.

The primary causes of maternal mortality in Armenia likewise used to
be obstetrical bleeding, hyperintense interruption of pregnancy,
post-birth complications, and abortions, Pastinfo News Agency informs.

In the maternal mortalities recorded in the past five years, however,
the causes that are not directly related to pregnancy and childbirth
have become more frequent, and their regularity exceeds the major
causes of respective deaths in the previous years.

Five of the forty women – that is, 12.5 percent – who lost their lives
from 2008 to 2012 and as a result of pregnancy, childbirth, and
post-birth complications in Armenia, had died at home. And such cases
of death are primarily conditioned on extragenital diseases, or
unforeseen causes during short-term pregnancies, or the post-birth
period.

In the case of the women who died as a result of extragenital
diseases, the pregnancies were up to six-seven weeks, and the
pregnancy was discovered only during autopsy.

But the sole consolation under this truly dire situation is the fact
that the maternal mortality rate in Armenia is falling in the past
five years.

`My Kid Doesn’t Have Any Clothes or Shoes, My Dear,’ a Protester Says to
Taron Margaryan (Video)

Aug 24
August 24, 2012 00:10

Residents of
the area on Buzand and Aram Streets to be exploited who had gathered
outside the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) office, so to say, `caught
by
surprise’ Taron Margaryan, the mayor of Yerevan, after the RPA council
meeting. The mayor `got along’ with them. In any case, the residents were
satisfied and happy after the meeting.

Taron Margaryan asked a City Hall worker to write down everyone’s phone
number and assured that their
problem would be necessarily solved. A woman protester, a resident of the
community of Erebuni, approached him and told him with her eyes full of
tears that she had a schoolchild, `He doesn’t have any clothes or
shoes,
my dear.’ The mayor asked whether she had applied to the City Hall. The
woman went, `Unless you tell them, the City Hall won’t solve that issue.’
Taron Margaryan ordered his workers, `Write down her phone number and you
will go to Artur Karapetyan tomorrow. You can go to Chorbulakh without
worrying and come to the City Hall tomorrow.’

According to one of the protesters, `I am a 60-year-old woman, I have no
job, nothing, how shall I make the payment, how shall I live, many of us
owe money to banks, pay interests.’

One of them demanded, `Mr. Margaryan, we don’t ask much from you, give
us our land, give us our 4 walls to live. If this issue is not solved,
I have decided to lock my door and leave Armenia.’

When we inquired of the mayor when those people’s problem would be
eventually solved, he explained, `A commission has been established in the
Ministry of Finance headed by
the minister. Representatives of all interested parties are involved in
that commission. The fact is being discussed; the commission will make
public its final decision after the discussion.’

In response to an observation of whether it wasn’t late to
discuss it after 8 years, he said, `The commission has just been
established and be sure that the commission will do everything to solve the
problem.’

They made different promises, when they tried to turn people out of their
homes at the time. In response to this observation of ours, Taron Margaryan
said, `That is why a criminal case has been opened against those investors,
those owners who deceived our citizens and we will see the criminal case
through in accordance with the law.’

Syrian-Armenian families apply for refugee status in Armenia since 2012

armradio.am
25.08.2012 13:40

46 Syrian-Armenian families have applied for a refugee status in
Armenia ever since the beginning of this year until Friday. And all
respective applications were approved, the Asylum Affairs Department
of Armenia’s State Migration Service told Pastinfo News Agency.
According to the same source, SMS has approved all applications for
receiving housing, and dwellings were allocated for 51 members from 21
such families. Other Syrian Armenians have chosen to live at the homes
of their friends and relatives in Armenia.
Pursuant to Armenia’s law, the persons who are recognized as refugees
and have been granted asylum in the country are under Armenia’s
protection. They are given the right to legally reside in the country,
and without any time limitations.

ARMENIENS DE SYRIE
L’« Armée syrienne libre » dément les informations d’une attaque
visant la communauté arménienne de Syrie

« L’Armée syrienne libre » par la voix du Président de son Conseil
militaire Mustapha al Cheikh vient de démentir l’information diffusée
sur nombre de médias que la Communauté arménienne serait dans la mire
de l’opposition syrienne. Cette annonce fut effectuée sur la chaîne de
télévision « Al Arabia ». Le Président de « l’Armée syrienne libre » a
affirmé que les Arméniens de Syrie y vivent depuis des décennies et il
n’y eut jamais de problème avec les Arméniens. « Le peuple de Syrie
n’a aucun problème avec les Arméniens, les chrétiens et les autres
communautés » a-t-il dit. Mustapha al Cheikh a également assuré
qu’aujourd’hui ainsi que demain son groupe n’a aucune intention de
s’attaquer aux Arméniens et toutes les nouvelles diffusées à ce propos
sont fausse…et viendraient « de l’autre camp ».

Krikor Amirzayan

samedi 25 août 2012,
Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com

FRANCE
Nouveaux manuels d’Histoire de 3e : exit Foch et Joffre, le génocide
arménien arrive

Exit les maréchaux Joffre ou Foch, et même souvent le rôle de Pétain
pendant la Première Guerre mondiale : les nouveaux manuels de troisième
d’histoire-géo évoquent en revanche longuement le génocide arménien,
l’indépendance de l’Algérie ou le peintre Otto Dix.
[image: (JPEG)]

Suite logique de la rénovation des programmes lancée par les ministres
de
l’Education, Xavier Darcos, et Luc Chatel, ce sont les classes de troisième
et terminale qui sont dotées de nouveaux manuels scolaires cette rentrée
2012.
[image: (JPEG)]

`Pour la géographie en troisième, le programme est entièrement nouveau, les
élèves étudient la France et le rôle mondial de la France, alors que ce
sujet était au programme des quatrièmes il y a deux ans`, explique Valérie
Perthué, responsable du département sciences humaines/livres scolaires
chez
Hatier.

En Histoire, la période étudiée va de 1910 au monde contemporain. Dans les
manuels Hachette, Hatier, Belin les maréchaux Joffre et Foch disparaissent.
Le rôle de Pétain pendant la Première Guerre mondiale n’est souligné que
chez Belin, note Hubert Tison, secrétaire général de l’association
des
professeurs d’histoire-géographie.
[image: (JPEG)]

`Dans plusieurs manuels, Philippe Pétain n’apparaît que dans le chapitre
sur la Deuxième Guerre mondiale. Comment comprendre son arrivée au pouvoir
sans avoir évoqué le héros de la Première Guerre mondiale ?`, demande
M. Tison.

`Les mutineries de la Grande Guerre disparaissent aussi`, relève-t-il.
M. Tison qui juge le programme `très vaste, très, trop ambitieux pour des
élèves qui ont seulement 2H30 de cours par semaine`.
[image: (JPEG)]

`On ne choisit pas de virer Joffre ou Foch, on essaie de faire rentrer dans
une page, deux pages ou quatre pages un sujet en suivant un programme
imposé qui est vaste`, répond la PDG de Belin, Sylvie Marcé.

Documents d’époque

`Les ouvrages donnent une grande place aux photos, aux documents, c’est
voulu par les enseignants qui veulent faire travailler les élèves sur des
documents d’époque, la partie cours étant un petit résumé du discours du
professeur`, ajoute-t-elle.

Dans les nouveaux livres, le génocide arménien est plus largement traité.
Dans le manuel Hatier, le peintre expressionniste et pacifiste allemand
Otto Dix, bénéficie de deux pages, comme le sculpteur nazi Arno Breker.
Dans le chapitre traitant de la décolonisation et de la création des
nouveaux Etats, les exemples de l’Inde et de l’Algérie occupent deux
doubles pages, le double de la précédente édition.
[image: (JPEG)]

Pour les terminales L et ES, les deux manuels d’Histoire et géographie
(matières inscrites au baccalauréat) totalisent 730 pages chez Hatier.
Pour
les terminales S, qui ont passé en juin 2012 une épreuve anticipée
d’histoire-géo, un seul livre de 220 pages regroupe l’histoire et la
géographie, matière devenue optionnelle.

En L ou ES, un chapitre sur le patrimoine veut faire réfléchir sur les
traces de l’histoire dans les villes de Rome, Jérusalem et Paris.

`Le patrimoine de Rome ou Jérusalem fait appel à des connaissances que peu
d’élèves ont, les professeurs choisiront donc Paris`, estime M. Tison.

`En géographie, on introduit une comparaison USA-Brésil et Japon-Chine et
surtout on commence par l’étude des cartes pour comprendre le monde`,
souligne Valérie Perthué.

Le manuel unique des S présente de nombreuses cartes représentant le monde
depuis l’Antiquité, on évoque la Silicon valley, la lutte contre les
maladies infectieuses depuis Pasteur, la course à l’espace depuis 1945.
*samedi 25 août 2012,*
Stéphane ©armenews.com

Nagorno-Karabakh launches meetings of military teachers

news.am
August 23, 2012 | 21:08

STEPANAKERT. – The scientific-methodical training-meetings for the
military teachers teaching at the public educational institutions were
launched since Wednesday within the cooperation frameworks and the
joint plan of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense and Education ministries.
The meeting will continue for three days. The trainings include
courses on lectures, display, practical and commander-methodical
readiness for the pre-military service age of the schoolchildren, the
Karabakh MOD information service informs. MOD high-ranking officials
as well as officials of the Education Ministry delivered lectures for
the participants.

Trend, Azerbaijan
Aug 24 2012

Fitch confirms Armenia’s weakness in absorbing further external shocks

Azerbaijan, Baku, Aug. 23 / Trend /

The current account deficit (CAD) of Armenia narrowed to 11% of GDP in
2011, but was still the second largest in Emerging Europe and the
third widest among ‘BB’ rated sovereigns, Fitch Ratings said on
Thursday.

“It is well above its pre-crisis level. Slowing growth in export
earnings, linked to falling metals prices, will limit further progress
in 2012,” the agency’s experts believe.

According to Fitch Ratings, with only half of the CAD financed by
foreign direct investment, the remainder is financed by external
borrowing, pushing up net external indebtedness.

According to the report, public debt may stabilise at around 45% of
GDP. However, this ratio is unusually sensitive to exchange rate
movements, given that 84% of public debt is in foreign currency,
mainly from multilateral lenders.

Armenia will start to make net repayments to the IMF in 2013. CBA and
government repayments to the IMF are to peak in 2013 at USD279m (2.6%
of forecast GDP or one-sixth of CBA reserves). Reserves will therefore
stay flat or decline. Fitch expects the government to seek a successor
agreement to the Extended Fund Facility/Extended Credit Facility
expiring in June 2013. The government expects to refinance its direct
obligations to the Fund from multilateral sources.

“Armenia’s ability to absorb further external shocks is weaker than in
2008, as government and external debt have multiplied. Pressure on
reserves or the dram – following an external shock – would lead to
negative rating action. Any shortfall in capital inflows would
increase risks of currency devaluation,” the agency believes.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Armenia’s Long-term foreign and local
currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) at ‘BB-‘. The Outlook on the
Long-term IDRs is Stable. At the same time, Fitch has affirmed the
Short-term foreign currency IDR at ‘B’ and Country Ceiling at ‘BB’.

APA, Azerbaijan
Aug 24 2012

Deputy FM of Iran: Iran recognizes Armenia as aggressor

[ 25 Aug 2012 00:16 ]

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has paid particular
attention to the arrest of Azerbaijani poets in Iran and expressed
concern about the population and the Azerbaijani leadership on this
issue

Baku-APA. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov received the
delegation headed by Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran for Asia and the
Pacific Said Abbas Arakchi, APA reports referring the press service of
the Foreign Ministry.

The meeting discussed issues related to bilateral cooperation, the
situation in the region, the upcoming summit in Tehran Non-Aligned
Movement.

E.Mammadyarov stressed the importance of further development of
relations between Azerbaijan and Iran. He also noted the negative
impact on the region’s continued occupation of Azerbaijani lands.

According to the minister is necessary for international organizations
to put pressure on Armenia to the fact that the country rejected the
policy of aggression.

He noted the importance of respect by all countries including Armenia
to the UN adopted decisions.

Mammadyarov also expressed concern about the population and the
leadership of Azerbaijan in connection with the arrest of Iran’s
Azerbaijani writers. He looked forward to a positive resolution of
this issue.

In turn Arakchi Said Abbas said that Iran attaches great importance to
relations with Azerbaijan and respects the independence, sovereignty
and territorial integrity of the country.

On the same day with Saeed Abbas Arakchi met Deputy Foreign Minister
Khalaf Khalafov. At the meeting they discussed the prospects of
expanding cooperation between Azerbaijan and Iran
Khalafov noted that the Azerbaijani-Iranian relations is a fundamental
principle of mutual respect, not interference in internal affairs and
support for territorial integrity. He stressed that the Armenian
aggression against Azerbaijan is a major obstacle to the development
of the entire region.

Saeed Abbas Arakchi of Azerbaijani side expressed gratitude for the
humanitarian assistance provided to victims of the earthquake in Iran.

He also expressed Iran’s interest in developing cooperation with
Azerbaijan and noted that Iran supports the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan and recognizes Armenia as an aggressor.