Author: Kanayan Tamar

`Sandcastle Girls’ Invades Bestseller Lists Nationwide, UK Edition Released

August 5, 2012

NEW YORK (A.W.) – Chris Bohjalian’s The Sandcastle Girlscontinued to
dominate many regional and national bestseller lists on the second
week of its release in the U.S., while the book’s UK edition hit the
shelves in Europe on Aug. 2.

The cover of the UK edition, released on Aug. 2.
In today’s (Aug. 5, 2012) print edition of the New York Times (Book
Review, p. 26), the novel is anchored at number 7 on the nation’s
preeminent best-seller list.

The Sandcastle Girls was number 3 on its second week on the New
England Indie Bestseller List (for the week ended July 29). The list
is compiled based on reporting from the independent booksellers of the
New England Independent Booksellers Association and IndieBound.

Earlier this week, the Washington Post reported that the book was the
fourth bestselling book in the nation’s capital.

The novel, which has sold tens of thousands of copies nationwide
within two weeks, also figured prominently on bestseller lists of
individual bookstores. It was number one, for example, on Harvard
Bookstore’s July 30 bestseller list.

UK Edition

On Aug. 2, the UK edition of The Sandcastle Girls was released.
Published by Simon and Schuster, the book has a different cover (see
photo). On the back cover, the following passage from novel is
highlighted: `How do a million and a half people die with nobody
knowing? You kill them in the middle of nowhere.’

For more information on the UK edition, click here.

TURKISH EMBASSY TO AZERBAIJAN DENIES INFORMATION ABOUT MEETING IN ARMENIA

Trend
Aug 3 2012
Azerbaijan

The press service of the Turkish embassy to Azerbaijan has denied
information that two employees of the Turkish Embassy to the UK met
in Yerevan with Secretary General of the Heritage party.

Koray Balkaya and Sera Cetin, who allegedly met with the press
secretary of the Heritage party Stepa Safaryan, are employees of
the British Embassy in Ankara, and are not represented in any of the
official structure of Turkey, the information received by Trend on
Friday from the embassy said.

Previously, Heritage party said it met with Turkish diplomats.

MAKING A PILGRIMAGE TO RWANDA TO REMEMBER THE GENOCIDE

New Jersey Jewish Standard

Aug 3 2012

Does the road from Englewood to Washington run through Rwanda?

That would seem to be the question raised by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s
trip this week to Africa, with less than 100 days to go before he
faces Rep. Bill Pascrell in election for New Jersey’s 9th Congressional
District.

But the long-time commentator and long-shot candidate is not looking to
raise campaign cash during his overseas travels, as did former Governor
Mitt Romney, who is expected to top Boteach on the Republican ballot
line and raised $50,000 a plate at a breakfast in Jerusalem last week.

Instead, Boteach said, “I promised myself that if I ever ran for public
office I would highlight genocide as one of the most important planks
in my platform.”

Boteach told the Jewish Standard that the purpose of his trip to Rwanda
is “to highlight the 800,000 people who died there, amid complete
American inaction.” That is the U.N. estimate of the number of Tutsi
– and some of their Hutu supporters – killed by Hutu in Rwanda over
the course of 100 days that began in April 1994.

Boteach long has been critical of the absence of American intervention
to stop the slaughter.

“America, the world’s sole superpower, did actually nothing,” he said.

“Not next to nothing, not almost nothing, actually nothing, to stop
a genocide they knew everything about. President Clinton did not have
a single meeting with his senior staff about it, not one.”

Boteach said this week’s trip was arranged with the help of his
daughter, a soldier in the Israeli army, who in that capacity recently
met the commander-in-chief of the Rwandan army. “His office has now
invited me to visit the country,” Boteach said. “I plan to see all
the genocide sites.”

The visit also coincides with commitments, arranged before he
launched his congressional run, to speak at Limmud, the Jewish studies
conference, which will meet in South Africa this weekend and next.

“The number one responsibility of anybody in power is to protect and
sustain human life,” Boteach said. “This is my main foreign policy
plank: the American responsibility to protect the innocent. It may
not mean military intervention, though it has to be kept on the table.”

During the Democratic primary, Pascrell was criticized by Armenian
groups for failing to adequately remember the genocide of Armenians
carried out by the Ottoman Empire beginning in 1915. Pascrell’s
opponent, Rep. Steve Rothman, received the endorsement of the Armenian
National Committee of America.

According to the Massachusetts-based Armenian Weekly, “At times, Rep.

Pascrell has stood out as the only member of the New Jersey
Congressional delegation not to support Armenian American initiatives.

Moreover, instead of attending the annual Capitol Hill Armenian
Genocide commemoration, Congressman Pascrell was one of only a
few members to attend the opening of new offices for an Armenian
Genocide-denying organization, the Turkish Coalition of America.”

Pascrell has been the mayor of Paterson, which reportedly is home to
the largest Turkish-American immigrant community in the country.

Turkey is the successor state to the Ottoman Empire and officially
denies that genocide took place.

VAZGEN KARAKHANYAN: AZERBAIJAN SHOULD KEEP ITS NOSE OUT OF OTHER COUNTRIES’ AFFAIRS

Panorama.am
03/08/2012

“Artsakh gained independence in line with democratic standards, and
it’s up to Artsakh to decide on its own policy. Artsakh presidential
election proved once again that Artsakh is a full-fledged state.

Azerbaijan should keep its nose out of other countries’ affairs,” RPA
Council member Vazgen Karakhanyan said in an interview with
Panorama.am, commenting on the note spread by Azerbaijan’s Permanent
Mission to the OSCE, concerning the alleged resettlement of the NKR
territories.

“First of all, Azerbaijan should answer why it allows OSCE mission to
hold monitoring in Shahumyan, Getashen, Martakert and some other
settlements of Artsakh occupied by Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan again
violates the agreements reached, but remains unpunished,” Karakhanyan
concluded.

BIG HPPS ON CAUCASIAN RIVERS NEED TRANSBOUNDARY RIVERS IMPACT ASSESSMENT

arminfo
Friday, August 3, 17:50

“When building big hydraulic structures on the rivers in the
Caucasus, assessment of possible impact on the Transboundary Rivers is
required as well as Strategic Environmental. Assessment. Nino
Chkhobadze, former minister of environment of Georgia, Co-chair of the
NGO Greens Movement of Georgia – Friends of the Planet, made such
statement talking to ArmInfo.

She said that Transboundary Rivers in the Caucasus are used for
irrigation purposes, so water deficiency or avulsion may affect the
irrigation system. All this, she said, will have a negative impact on
the agriculture, industry and economy, in general. Chkhobadze brought
the example of the project of the Cascade of hydropower plants
Beshikaya in Turkey that implies avulsion of the head waters of the
River of Kura. Under the project, the riverhead will start in the
territory of Georgia and not Turkey. Consequently, if the project is
implemented, water deficiency in the Kura River basin will make up
30-%-40%, which will create serious environmental problems for the
basins of Kura and Aras rivers.

Environmentalists in Armenia are alarming that construction of small
HPPs may endanger the fish fauna and the nearby forests.

Environmentalists outline the project of HPP on the tributary Paghjour
of the Agstev River that may affect Lastiver Waterfall, as well as two
small HPPs on the River of Meghri, which resulted in change of the
ground category near the National park Arevik. Residents of
Gegharkunik region are alarming that construction of a new HPP on the
River of Argichi will leave the Martuni community without water.

Activists are concerned that the river may shrink affecting
reproduction of the trout and other fish included in the Red Book.

EX-MONGOLIAN PRESIDENT JAILED FOR CORRUPTION

PanARMENIAN.Net
August 3, 2012 – 15:42 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Chinese state media say former Mongolian President
Nambar Enkhbayar has been sentenced to four years in jail for
corruption, AP reported.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Friday, August 3 that a court
in Ulan Bator convicted Enkhkbayar after a three-day trial and gave
him a seven-year sentence with three years pardoned.

Xinhua says Enkhbayar accused state prosecutors of twisting facts
and saying the case was politically driven.

Enkhbayar was president from 2005 to 2009, before narrowly losing to
Tsakhia Elbegdorj in the 2009 presidential election.

Enkhbayar was arrested in April by the country’s anti-corruption
authority.

Xinhua says the court also ordered the confiscation of 25 million
tugrik ($18,660) worth of property from Enkhbayar.

KILLED MILITARY DOCTOR’S FATHER HUMILIATED, PUBLIC FIGURE SAYS

tert.am
03.08.12

Father of military doctor Vahe Avetyan, severely beaten to death
at Harsnakar restaurant, is being humiliated, ethnographer, public
figure Hranush Kharatyan told the reporters on Friday.

She said he is being called to the investigative body and forced to
wait for hours being told that the person who invited him is not in.

Kharatyan claims such actions are aimed at scaring Vahe’s relatives.

“Imagine only, these people were praying day and night for their son,
and after Vahe’s death his father is being called to the investigative
body. They humiliate and want to scare this person. We are going to
fight till the end to reach justice,” Hranush Kharatyan said.

Davit Sanasaryan, member of the opposition Heritage party, said “Vahe
Avetyan” public initiative will use all the means for fight. “We
will not say what we are going to do, but all will be done within
the limits of law,” Sanasaryan said.

Three military doctors were severely beaten by the restaurant’s
security guards on June 17. One of them, Vahe Avetyan, died in hospital
twelve days later.

Six individuals have detained over the case. Some of them are said
to be the personal bodyguards of the restaurant’s owner, Ruben
Hayrapetyan, who is also the president of the Football Federation
of Armenia.

PRESIDENT ILHAM ALIYEV’S COUSIN TAKES LOCAL ENTREPRENEURS’ PROPERTY TURNING THEM INTO TENANTS

Turan

BAKU. August 2, 2012: A group of businessmen from Khirdalan (20 km
north of Baku) held a press conference today, complaining that the
local authorities were demolishing their business offices to free the
land for a market owned by Ilgar Aliyev, president Ilham Aliyev’s
cousin. The businessmen told the media that the local authorities
disguised their real motives saying the demolition were part of the
“beautification plans” on Khirdalan.

According to businessman Agarazi Hashimov, one of the aggrieved
businessmen in Khirdalan, the local authorities had already demolished
31 businesses belonging to the families of the Garabagh war veterans.

The businessmen told the media that they found out that the whole
reason behind the demolition project was clearing the space for a new
market of Ilgar Aliyev, president Ilham Aliyev’s cousin. Officials
told the owners of the demolished facilities that the new shopping
center would give them spaces in the area that they could rent for
1,000 manat a month (appr. $1,200).

“We do not agree to lease the area, built on the lands which we owned.

We want them to pay fair compensation (1.5 thousand manat per sq. m.),
the amount declared to be the fair value of the condemned property
by the President Ilham Aliyev himself,” said the businessmen.

The same businessmen had already expressed their protests, first by
blocking the Baku – Sumgayit highway, then holding a demonstration
in front of the Administration of the President.

Today, through the media, they appealed to the Azerbaijani government
and the public, and next week they plan to hold a protest action once
again (Turan).

MAN FOUND DROWNED IN HRAZDAN HYDRO POWER PLANT CANAL

news.am
August 03, 2012 | 10:27

YEREVAN.- A man was found drowned in the canal of Armenia’s Hrazdan
hydro power plant.

The Ministry of Emergency Situation said it had received a call at
about 10 p.m. on Thursday saying a man fell into a canal of Hrazdan
hydro power plant and rescuers’ help is needed.

The rescuers of Kotayk region and six divers headed to the accident
site. They found a body of a man at midnight. The man was identified
as resident of Hrazdan, 57-year-old Khachik Hayrapetyan.

FRENCH-ARMENIANS SLAM BILL ON OPENING AZERBAIJANI CULTURAL CENTER IN PARIS

tert.am
03.08.12

The Co-ordination Council of Armenian Organizations of France (CCAF)
has condemned a government-proposed bill on establishing an Azerbaijan
cultural center in Paris.

According Nouvelles d’Armenie, they have issued a statement in that
connection, expressing astonishment over the plan.

“On July 25, [Prime Minister] Jean-Mark Ayrault and [Foreign Minister]
Lauren Fabius submitted to the Council of Ministers a draft that
would allow the Azerbaijani dictatorship to found a cultural center
in Paris. The CCAF is very surprised that France’s new government
attaches a big urgency to the draft, including it in the agenda. Are
there no other priorities in France?” reads the statement.

The members of the Council note that international human rights
organizations constantly slam the Aliyev regime for violation of
human rights and racist and non-democratic policies.

“Following the anti-Armenian war against Nagorno-Karabakh, Baku has
multiplied its threats against not only the Republic but also the
Armenians worldwide, whom President Aliyev called his country’s enemies
without any hesitation in an April 16 scandalous speech,” the say.

Taking into consideration the above, the Council considers the move
very surprising and shocking.