Author: Kanayan Tamar

ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN URGED TO RESOLVE NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT
Helena Bedwell

Bloomberg / Business Week

june 19 2012

The U.S., Russian and French presidents called for Armenia and
Azerbaijan to find a peaceful solution to their conflict over the
Nagorno-Karabakh region.

In a joint statement today from the Group of 20 meeting in Mexico,
Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin and Francois Hollande urged the two
former Soviet republics to fulfill a January commitment to accelerate
reaching a peace agreement. The U.S., Russia and France chair the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s so-called Minsk
Group, which mediates on the dispute.

“The parties to the conflict should not further delay making
the important decisions necessary to reach a lasting and peaceful
settlement,” the leaders said. “As evidence of their political will,
they should refrain from maximalist positions in the negotiations,
respect the 1994 cease-fire agreement, and abstain from hostile
rhetoric that increases tension.”

Energy-rich Azerbaijan fought a war with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh,
a mostly ethnic Armenian-populated region that broke free of Baku’s
control after the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991. While
the hostilities largely ended after a Russia-brokered cease-fire in
1994, the countries have failed to reach a peace agreement.

Five Armenian soldiers were killed and two were wounded during an
exchange of fire with Azeri troops this month, while five Azeri
soldiers died during a border clash with Armenian troops, Defense
Ministries of both nations said June 6.

IS THE NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT REACHING A BOILING POINT?

Russia Profile

June 19 2012

By Dan Peleschuk, Russia Profile 06/19/2012

The former Soviet Union’s oldest frozen conflict just might be thawing,
but that’s not for the better. Ahead of a joint statement issued by
world leaders during the G20 Summit, calling on the Armenian and
Azerbaijani governments to mend fences over the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, tensions in the breakaway territory have only been
escalating. Following bloody border shootouts in recent weeks,
observers have been talking of renewed violence that could lead to
another all-out war. Though all signs point to a fresh conflict,
is a large-scale war in the Caucasus really possible?

The U.S., Russian and French presidents came together on the sidelines
of the global summit on Monday to urge a peaceful settlement to the
conflict, which for more than 20 years has kept Armenia and Azerbaijan
at each other’s throats, and the territory itself in a state of
diplomatic limbo. “Military force will not resolve the conflict and
would only prolong the suffering and hardships endured by the peoples
of the region for too long,” the statement read. “Only a peaceful,
negotiated settlement can allow the entire region to move beyond the
status quo toward a secure and prosperous future.”

But despite international proclamations, a serious problem continues
to brew. For weeks, tensions have inched toward a boiling point as
a startling number of soldiers on both sides have been killed in
tit-for-tat small arms exchanges along the border between Azerbaijan
and de facto Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as between Azerbaijan and
Armenia itself – a far more sensitive area, analysts note. Each
time, the story is the same: one side fires on the other, citing
provocations or illegal incursions from the opposing side, and in turn
receives retaliation shots. And each time, the results are the same:
just since the beginning of 2011, more than 60 Armenian and Azeri
soldiers have died from such border skirmishes, EurasiaNet reported
earlier this month.

Perhaps more disconcerting is the protracted arms race that is taking
place between Armenia and Azerbaijan. While around 20,000 soldiers
remain posted on either side of the front line, the respective
governments are leveraging what they can to outgun their opponent:
Azerbaijan its massive oil wealth, and Armenia its cushy weapons trade
with Russia. Even Karabakh’s standing army, according to E. Wayne
Merry, a senior associate at the American Foreign Policy Council,
fields around 300 battle tanks – no doubt a curious amount for a
population of only about 140,000.

Writing in openDemocracy last month, Merry also warned of the
geopolitical implications of a renewed Karabakh war not only for
the Caucasus, but for major global players as well. “A significant
armed conflict over Karabakh could be much more serious than the
brief 2008 war [between Russia and Georgia], in part because the two
sides are more evenly matched and in part because of the proximity –
and vulnerability – of major oil and gas pipelines,” he wrote. “Thus,
another Karabakh war could touch Europeans and Americans at one of
their most neuralgic points, the ‘price at the pump.'”

International efforts have historically done little for the Karabakh
conflict, whose 1994 pact institutionalized a shaky and routinely
violated ceasefire. The Minsk Group, chaired by the United States,
Russia and France, was devised by the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe to monitor the conflict and bring both sides
to the table – but has so far failed to produce results. Similarly,
when U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the Caucasus
earlier this month, not only did her efforts fall by the wayside,
but eight soldiers from both the Armenian and Azerbaijani side were
killed as she toured the two capitals, according to media reports.

Yet despite all the ominous signs, some experts warn against jumping
to such dire conclusions. According to Alexander Iskandaryan, director
the Yerevan-based Caucasus Institute, neither side can afford to wage
a large-scale war – Armenia and Karabakh because of their relatively
small populations, and Azerbaijan because of the certain destruction
of the lucrative Baku-Ceyhan pipeline a war would deliver. “Armed
skirmishes and a full-blown war are two principally different things,”
he said. “They require their own levels of resources, losses of life,
as well as their own degrees of risk.”

Others agree, but Lawrence Scott Sheets, South Caucasus project
director for the International Crisis Group, added that while neither
side can afford an explosion of the conflict, many tend to forget that
a violent conflict already exists and has never abated – and that the
only next step is war on a massive scale. “We call it a conflict,
but people are killed there all the time,” he said. What’s more,
Sheets noted, ill-fated international efforts have helped drive
both sides to consider a military solution as the only alternative
option. “We’ve never said at the ICG that there’s going to be a war,
but we have said that the conditions are worsening, and as the deadlock
continues, the chances for either an accidental war or a premeditated
conflict from either side increase,” he said.

NAIRA’S SPEECH SHOCKED EVERYONE

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 16:14:38 – 20/06/2012

The Members of Parliament are delivering speeches on the program of
the government. The first to speak was Naira Zohrabyan, secretary of
the PAP group which was more than criticizing of the government and
Tigran Sargsyan.

Zohrabyan’s speech shocked the parliamentary majority. Speaker Hovik
Abrahamyan was making worrisome moves during the whole speech, looking
around, vice-speaker Hermine Naghdalyan was showing anger and evil,
while Eduard Sharmazanov kept his head in his hands until the speech
ended. Premier Tigran Sargsyan also had his head in the hands.

Zohrabyan stated that the government had promised to reduce the
poverty, while today, we have 35.8% with numerous people emigrating
every day. She pointed out the fact that the government, the policy
of which will be the same, failed the previous program and now the
same government, with almost the same staff, and the same premier,
the same program and ideology is expecting support.

“I’m saying “government” and “new program” with great reservations”,
she said.

Zohrabyan also noted that when one of the ministers of the economic
block was asked in an interview why solutions of mechanisms lack on
the program, said that the program is not meant to provide mechanisms,
otherwise, it would be a multi-volume book. Zohrabyan underlined that
mechanisms should be the axis of the program.

She noted that it will always be possible to refer to the economic
crisis to justify the failures. “I have the impression that the
financial crisis is a lifebuoy for some people which can be blamed of
all the failures”, said Zohrabyan wondering who needs to answer for the
14.5% economic drop. “Or you cannot answer but come here bravely and
expect support. Serious changes are necessary for serious progress”,
said Zohrabyan.

She said the PAP will univocally vote against the program.

DAYS OF LEBANON-BASED ARMENIAN COMMUNITY IN ARMENIA PROGRAM TO BE LAUNCHED IN ARMENIA

tert.am
20.06.12

The ‘Days of Lebanon-based Armenian Community in Armenia’ program is
to be launched at 5:00pm, Thursday.

Armenia’s Ministry of Diaspora is implementing the program.

The program will be launched at the Yerevan History Museum with an
exhibition of sculptures by the Lebanese-Armenian sculptor Zaven
Khtshyan.

Interestingly, the Armenian communities in Poland and Iran organized
similar programs in Armenia last year.

The Lebanon-based Armenian language Azdak daily plans to mark its
85th anniversary under the ‘Days of Lebanon-based Armenian Community
in Armenia’ program this autumn. Also, different Lebanese-Armenian
song and dance companies will perform in Armenia.

Zaven Khtshyan was born in Beirut, in 1932. In 1949-192 he studied
at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts. In 1958, he graduated from the
Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-arts (ENSB-A) (National School
of Fine Arts) in Paris, France.

Zaven Khtshyan is also author of a new architecture study program.

The 1976 edition of the L’art et le monde moderne encyclopedia by
the Larousse publishers contains an entry on Zaven Khtshyan as one
of the world’s most renowned artists.

ARMENIANS ARE MOST TARGETED IN TURKISH MEDIA STORIES CONTAINING HATE SPEECH

news.am
June 20, 2012 | 13:15

ISTANBUL. – The number of headlines and news stories that vilified
specific groups on the basis of ethnicity, religion or other
characteristics increased to 115 in the first four months of 2012,
up from 38 over the same period last year, a report by the Hrant Dink
Foundation has found.

The Foundation screened seventeen newspapers for hate speech, Zaman
daily of Turkey informs.

The report, which was announced to the press on Monday, found a
striking quantitative increase in the number of stories that could be
classified as employing hate speech. In reports collated last year,
there were 38, 41 and 27 such stories spotted in Turkish newspapers
in three consecutive four-month periods. This figure was 115 for the
January-April 2012 period.

The foundation also found an increase in the number of groups that
were targeted by hateful reporting, a trend that has been on the rise
since late 2011. Earlier this year, 17 different groups were targeted
by hateful speech in the media-the highest figure ever since the
foundation started monitoring the media for discriminatory language.

According to the report, Armenians were the most targeted group during
the January-April 2012 period-more than half of the stories containing
hate speech had targeted this group. They were followed by Christians,
Jews, Greeks (in Turkey and Cyprus), the French, and the Kurds.

“We frequently witness that the media in Turkey employs biased,
prejudiced and discriminatory language. The provocative, racist and
discriminatory language used, particularly in front page stories
and story headlines, turns into instruments that trigger hostility
and discriminatory sentiment in society and strengthens bias based
on stereotypes,” states the Hrant Dink Foundation’s report, RFE/RL
informs.

ARMENIA NEEDS RADICAL DEVELOPMENT: PRIME MINISTER OF ARMENIA

ARMEPRESS
20 June, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS: Armenia’s government distinctly realizes
that there are a number of issues in the country, said Prime Minister
of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan while presenting the government program at
the National Assembly, Armenpress reports. “We have always been open
and transparent, have accepted the sound criticism, and we ourselves
have revealed many issues,” stressed the head of the government. He
underlined that we lack high quality working places, emigration and
poverty remain issues needing urgent solution. As the next primary
issue Tigran Sargsyan noted that we have not yet managed to get rid
of the corruption completely, to create equal competitive conditions
for enterprises. Abuse of the dominant position in economy is still a
phenomenon of frequent occurrence. Society’s trust toward the judicial
system is low. “Government’s program has a goal to solve these issues.

In these conditions we need a radical development. A development,
the main guarantee of which will be relying on the own forces and
mobilization of domestic resources,” said the Prime Minister. He also
stressed that from these very issues stem the 3 main priorities of
the government -competitiveness increase of the economy, development
of the human capital and development of the institutional capacities.

ADVICE: MAKE SURE YOU SEE THE GRAPES
Barbara Parent

Posted: Wednesday, June 20, 2012 2:18 pm

“Make sure you see the grapes,” my mother would caution whenever I
went to pick wild grape leaves.

The wild grape leaves were essential for sarma. Ever since my
Armenian grandmother died, our family did not have sarma made with
grape leaves. My mother would make sarma with cabbage, which was
very good but not as good as the sarma made with grape leaves. The
same ingredients went into both sarmas – ground beef, onions, rice,
crushed tomatoes and lots of fresh mint. Perhaps it was the memory of
childhood and my grandmother watching over the pot of sarmas made with
grape leaves that brought hunger for them. My grandmother would gather
the wild grape leaves, but from where? My mother didn’t know where
her mother got them. I was only 12 when my grandmother died. Would
I have thought to ask?

Yet the memory is sweet. My brother and I could hardly contain
ourselves as we waited for the sarmas to cook. They were piled in a
large pot, and I can still see my grandmother standing by the stove,
her full-length apron covering the front of her house dress and tied
at her ample waist. Her salt-and-pepper hair is pulled back off her
face and wrapped in a bun at the nape of her neck. I see her lift the
cover from the pot and carefully remove the heat-proof plate that is
on the rolls to keep them in place.

I see her put a large spoon into the pot and pull out a sarma and
place in on a plate. My brother and I must wait as the steam curls
upward and is joined by another stream after she cuts the roll in
half. She cautions that if we bite into the sarma too soon, we will
burn our tongues.

There were times in the years since my grandmother died when I would
eat a sarma made with grape leaves. I could guess that it was at the
Armenian picnic that was held each summer at Batterson Park in New
Britain and that I would attend with my mother. My memory is fuzzy
and perhaps it is due to so many years passing.

I do remember in later years eating stuffed grape leaves on a salad
bar. However, they are not like the sarmas that my grandmother made.

They are filled with only rice and are served cold. They are available
fresh in specialty food stores, usually garnish Greek salads and are
also sold in cans at most supermarkets.

A well-meaning friend once brought me a jar of grape leaves – not
stuffed, just the leaves. I made the sarma with them, but they did
not taste like my grandmother’s sarma. I figured that the grape leaves
had to be wild grape leaves and that was all there was to it.

I did not have to go far in my quest for wild grape leaves. A keen
Armenian eye such as mine sees them along the roadside working their
way up the trunks of trees and just hanging all over the place. Ah,
but my mother’s warning is there: “Make sure you see the grapes!”

The first time I picked wild grape leaves I may have seen tiny green
grapes that were yet to become ripe. Then again maybe I didn’t. It was
over 30 years ago, so who can say for sure. In the years since, I have
made many batches of sarma with grape leaves I have picked at various
spots along the roadside. I think that the art of gathering wild grape
leaves wasn’t as intricate as my mother may have believed. My mother
was a worrier.

My grandmother was born in Armenia in 1894. Her family escaped to
America before the Ottoman Empire began the campaign to rid their
borders of the Armenians. Yet, it is said that all generations of
Armenians carry the scar of the 1915 genocide. It is their nature,

G MELIKYA: GREAT BRITAIN PURSUING OIL INTERESTS IN AZERBAIJAN

Panorama.am
20/06/2012

“The right to self-determination of peoples has always been a
priority. However, some states or statesmen, depending on certain
geo-political situation, make selective statements,” RPA council
member Gagik Melikyan said commenting on Great Britain’s PM statement:
“I am not proposing a full discussion now on the Falklands, but I
hope you noted they are holding a referendum and you should respect
their views. We believe in self-determination and act as democrats
here in the G20.”

Speaking to Panorama.am Mr Melikyan hailed Mr Cameron’s statement
on self-determination right, but stressed that they are making it
whenever they find it accurate.

“Great Britain is pursuing certain oil interests in Azerbaijan,
and it’s not favorable for them to emphasize the importance of
self-determination of NK people. I would like to remind Mister Cameron
that defined by the UN Charter the right to self-determination, unlike
the right to territorial integrity, is not only a principle, but a
goal and it would be better to remark this when issuing statements
about NK issue,” he said.

US COVERS ARMENIA IN ITS ANNUAL REPORT ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING

16:29 . 20/06

“Up to 27 million people are living in slavery around the world,”
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced as the US unveiled
its annual report on human trafficking.

185 countries are included in the report of US State Department. They
are divided into three classes. The third class is considered the
blacklist including 16 countries. Algeria, the Democratic Republic
of Congo, North Korea, Saudi Arabia are among them.

For the first time Syria has also appeared in the blacklist. Armenia
and Azerbaijan are among the 42 countries of the second class. Georgia
is in the first class.

Armenia is defined as a source country for women and girls subjected
to sex trafficking, as well as a source country for women and men
subjected to forced labor. To a lesser extent it is viewed as a
destination country for women subjected to forced labor. Women and
girls from Armenia are subjected to sex trafficking in the United
Arab Emirates and Turkey, and within the country.

The Department of State experts find that the Government of Armenia
does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination
of trafficking though it is making significant efforts to do so.

ARMENIA IS COMMITTED TO THE POLICY OF ESTABLISHING RELATIONS WITH TURKEY WITHOUT PRECONDITIONS

ARMENPRESS
20 June, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS: Armenia remains committed to the policy
of establishing relations with Turkey without preconditions, said
Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan at the National Assembly
in answer to the question of MP Vahan Hovhannisyan, Armenpress reports.

“Our initial political decision has not changed. We think that the
process implemented through mediation of Switzerland was the most
correct way, in case of which, we, nevertheless, keep true to our
principles,” said the head of the government.

He noted that Armenia has left the mentioned process, increasing its
international reputation, in regard to which the representatives of
both the US, Russia and European Union have made statements.

“Everyone saw that Armenia is faithful to its principles and our
policy has justified itself,” Tigran Sargsyan stressed.