Author: Kanayan Tamar

ARMENIAN CHAPEL- 192ND HISTORIC BUILDING OF STOKHOLM

ARMENPRESS
12 June, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, 12 JUNE, ARMENPRESS: The chapel at Overjarva court yard will
be Stockholm’s 192nd historic building.

As reports Armenpress citing The Union of Armenian Associations in
Sweden,no one knows for sure who built the chapel. But perhaps it was
the Armenian Ohan Demirgian, a diplomat who created a lot of attention
in Stockholm’s social life since arrived to Sweden in the 1860s to
submit some Barbary horses as a gift to King Charles XV from Egypt’s
monarch. Demirgan received Overjarva court yard as a summer place and
held lavish parties there. The chapel has been used as a conservatory,
chapel, Armenian chapel and an artist’s studio, according to Dagens
Nyheter. Union of Armenian Associations in Sweden welcomes the news.

“Armenians have for years expressed interest in the building and it
has at some occasion used for holding an Armenian church service in
the chapel. We hope it will remain as an important symbolic building
of an interesting era in the Swedish cultural heritage” writes The
Union of Armenian Associations in Sweden in a statement.

AZERBAIJAN JOCKEYS FOR NEW GEOPOLITICAL WEIGHT

Al-Jazeera

June 11 2012
Qatar

What do the US and Israel have to gain by strengthening Azerbaijan’s
naval capacities in the Caspian sea?

Washington, DC – As the prospect of an Israeli attack on Iran has
loomed over the past several months, a great deal of attention has
been paid to Israel’s close ties with Iran’s northern neighbour,
Azerbaijan. And while those ties are indeed close, the two countries
nonetheless have very different concerns vis-a-vis Iran – ones that
make them unlikely to cooperate on any potential Israeli strike
against Tehran.

The most visible part of Azerbaijani-Israeli cooperation is in the
weapons business. Azerbaijan and Israel announced a massive arms
deal, worth US $1.6bn, earlier this year, fuelling speculation that
Israel was using Azerbaijan as a proxy against Iran. That speculation
spiked when the US magazine Foreign Policy reported that Israel was
negotiating to use airfields in Azerbaijan in case of a strike on Iran.

But while Israel’s concern about Iran is Tehran’s nuclear programme
and the fear that Iranian nuclear weapons could be used against them,
Azerbaijan has displayed a less alarmist view of Iran’s nuclear
intentions. Azerbaijan has opposed efforts to broaden sanctions
against Iran and, as WikiLeaked US diplomatic cables have shown,
have consistently rejected US entreaties to pressure Iran either
publicly or privately on its nuclear programme.

That Israel is Azerbaijan’s major weapons supplier has more to do
with the particulars of Azerbaijan’s geopolitical situation than with
a desire for a strong strategic partnership. A part of Azerbaijani
territory, the region of Nagorno Karabakh, has been occupied by
Armenian forces since a brutal war in the 1990s, and Azerbaijan’s top
national priority is regaining its territory – by force, if necessary.

And as it builds up its military to prepare to retake Nagorno Karabakh,
it can afford to buy the best. Azerbaijan’s economy, since gaining
independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, has boomed, and now its
per capita GDP is over $10,000, putting it on par with Thailand,
Colombia and South Africa. Its defence budget is reportedly over
$3bn. Yet, it is cut off from many of the major arms markets.

Russia is a strategic ally of Armenia, and the US Congress, led by
members friendly to Armenian-American lobby groups, has imposed
restrictions on arms sales to Azerbaijan. So, for world-class
armaments, Israel is perhaps the best remaining option.

An uncomfortable demographic fact

However, Azerbaijan does have significant strategic concerns about Iran
as well, and tensions between the two countries have the potential
for creating a new flashpoint in the region – albeit one unrelated
to Israel.

Tensions between the two countries are rooted in an uncomfortable
demographic fact for Iran: about one-sixth of its population are ethnic
Azeris (and according to some estimates, a quarter), concentrated
in the northern regions bordering Azerbaijan. Since Azerbaijan
became independent, Tehran has feared its potential influence on
the frequently aggrieved Azeri minority. Nationalist politicians in
Azerbaijan have fanned that flame by referring to their country as
“North Azerbaijan” and the Azeri areas in Iran as “South Azerbaijan”.

For years, Azerbaijan has complained about Iranian proselytisers in
Azerbaijan – a largely secular country – and about Iranian television
broadcasts – in the Azeri language – beamed into Azerbaijan. And this
year, tensions between the two countries have increased dramatically.

Azerbaijan’s security forces have rounded up dozens of “terrorists”
that it says were working for Iran and preparing to attack American
and Israeli targets in Azerbaijan. Two poets from Azerbaijan who went
to Iran to participate in a poetry contest were apparently detained,
but Iran has refused to offer any information about the two men’s
whereabouts.

Perhaps most absurdly, conservative clerics in Iran organised several
demonstrations at Azerbaijani consulates in Iran, protesting the
holding of a “gay parade” during Baku’s hosting of the Eurovision
Song Contest. This, in spite of the fact that there was never any
such plan to hold such a parade. During the week of Eurovision,
Iran recalled its Baku ambassador for consultations.

The tension has frequently manifested itself militarily, in addition
to politically. The source of Azerbaijan’s wealth is the rich oil
and natural gas fields in the Caspian Sea, but the borders of each
country’s waters in the sea have not been delimited, leading to
the possibility of disputes over petrowealth. The most famous such
incident occurred in 2001, when an Iranian warship and fighter jets
threatened a BP research vessel operating in what Azerbaijan considers
its territorial waters in the Caspian Sea. But there have been several
subsequent events.

In 2009, an Iranian drilling rig entered waters that Azerbaijan
considered its own, and according to US diplomatic cables, Azerbaijan
government officials fretted that they did not have the naval capacity
to respond. As a result of that perceived threat, Azerbaijan has
been building up its naval capacity. Among the weapons in the $1.6bn
Israeli purchase were anti-ship missiles. And in April, Azerbaijan’s
navy exercised against a foe that closely resembled Iran’s navy.

Caspian strategy?

People & Power – Rearming the Caucasus – Part 1 Analysts in Baku
agree that Iran is the most significant threat in the Caspian. “How
will we react if tomorrow Iran decides to install one of their oil
wells in some territory that we consider ours?” asks Tahir Zeynalov,
an analyst at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy. “Maybe some crazy guy,
because he got frustrated by Azerbaijan-Israeli relations, tomorrow he
will declare ‘go and install that well over there’. The possibility of
serious tension is there, and Azerbaijan will attempt not to allow it.”

It’s not entirely clear what Iran’s strategy is in the Caspian.

Throughout history, it’s had relatively little presence on the sea,
which has been largely controlled by Russia since Peter the Great
expanded his empire to the sea in the 18th century. In both economic
and strategic terms, the Persian Gulf is far more significant for Iran.

Part of Iran’s concern is that its nemeses in the US and Europe
appear to be trying to gain a foothold in the Caspian. Major Western
companies are already cooperating with Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan to
exploit the oil and gas in the sea, and the European Union, and to
a lesser extent the US, are working with Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan
to build a gas pipeline across the Caspian, leading to Europe.

Even more worrying, from Tehran’s perspective, is the US military
moves in the sea. Although the moves are not especially ambitious
by American standards, they nevertheless have made a splash on the
closed Caspian. The US has donated some patrol boats and training for
Azerbaijani naval special forces. As recently as 2009, the infamous
private military company Blackwater was conducting some of that
training, according to WikiLeaked diplomatic cables. And the cables
also show the US repeatedly pushing Azerbaijan to strengthen its navy,
in particular its ability to conduct surveillance in their part of
the Caspian. The 2009 incident involving the Iranian drilling rig,
too, illustrated the deep, if behind-the-scenes, cooperation between
the US and Azerbaijan on Caspian naval security.

The US role in training and equipping Azerbaijan’s navy has spooked
Iran, said one naval analyst in Baku who asked to remain anonymous:
“Iranians think they are a besieged fortress… The US cooperation
here is nothing special but they build conspiracy theories about it.”

And the plot is about to get thicker. Iran recently announced the
discovery of a large oil and natural gas field, which President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad said “will change the energy and political balance around
the Caspian Sea”. Indeed it could: while Iran hasn’t yet announced
the exact location of the deposit, what information it has given
suggests it could be in waters that Baku considers to be Azerbaijan’s.

Nevertheless, for Azerbaijan, conflict with Iran can only harm them.

Iran’s naval and air forces in the Caspian, while not particularly
strong, can still easily outgun Azerbaijan’s. And in spite of recent
moves by Azerbaijan to bolster their naval capacity, the source of
Baku’s wealth in the Caspian is still vulnerable to Iran. Meanwhile,
Azerbaijan remains focused on regaining Nagorno Karabakh, which
adventurism in Iran would not help.

So as much as a weakened Iran would benefit Azerbaijan, in case of a
war there, Azerbaijan’s main goal will to avoid becoming collateral
damage, and to bide its time until it can defend itself from its
larger southern neighbour.

Joshua Kucera is a freelance journalist based in Washington, DC. He
is a regular contributor to EurasiaNet, US News and World Report
and Slate.

This reporting was made possible by a grant from the Pulitzer Centre
on Crisis Reporting.

NATALI PHARM TO PAY 50MLN AMD FINE FOR ABUSE OF DOMINANCE

arminfo
Monday, June 11, 20:37

The State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition of
Armenia ruled on Monday that Natali Pharm, the country’s biggest
medicine importer and retailer, owned by MP Samvel Alexanyan, should
pay a fine worth 50mln AMD ($121,100).

Chairman of the Commission Artak Shaboyan says that in Jan 2011 MPs
from Heritage party Anahit Bakhshyan and Stepan Safaryan complained
of anti-competitive actions preventing Szni company from entering
the medicine market.

A following inquiry has shown that Natali Pharm, Europharm, Ruspharm,
Amikus, Egdani, Megi ES, Kamelia, Anikopharm, Hrant Gevorgyan and
30 state medical centers all over Armenia acted anti-competitively
during state procurements.

In some cases procurements were carried out without tenders, in
others tenders were just a formality. There were cases when Natali
Pharm bribed hospital officials so they refused to buy medicines from
winning companies.

Shaboyan blames hospitals for creating favorable conditions for anti-
competitive and corrupt activities but has punished only Natali Pharm.

He says that it is the first such big investigation in the field.

Since the case may involve waste of budgetary funds, the materials of
the investigations have been sent to the Prosecutor General’s Office,
the Supervisory Chamber and the Finance Ministry.

In 2010 the Government budgeted 3.7bln AMD ($9.9mln) for the
procurement of medicines. The same year medicine production in Armenia
totaled 3.3bln AMD, the imports – $73mln, with Natali Pharm being
the biggest importer in 2007-2010.

Established in 2001 Natali Pharm has over 40 partners, including
Servier, Nycomed, Novartis Pharma, Novartis Consumer, Orion, Santen,
Berlin Chemie AG. It is exclusive representative of Krewel Meuselbach,
Unipharm, Nizhpharm and Kievmedpreparat in Armenia. The company has
over 30 drugstores in Yerevan and over 10 all over Armenia.

According to ArmInfo’s Ranking of Biggest Trade and Service Companies
of Armenia, in 2010 Natali Pharm’s net profit totaled $1.6mln, assets –
$22.6mln, own capital – $7.7mln.

ARMENIAN OPPOSITION WILL DISCUSS KARABAKH ISSUE IN UPCOMING RALLY – EXPERT

news.am
June 11, 2012 | 23:08

YEREVAN. – Opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) will organize
another rally on June 26 to conclude on the parliamentary elections
and give its estimation on policy regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh issue,
political scientist Yervand Bozoyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

According to the expert, at the same time people are desperate due
to deteriorating social-economic conditions and government’s policy

FINALS OF 8TH ARAM KHACHATRYAN INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION TO BE HELD JUNE 12

ARMENPRESS
11 June, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JUNE 11, ARMENPRESS: The third – final round of the 8th Aram
Khachatryan International Violin Competition will be held June 12.

Press service of the festival told Armenpress that in the 3rd round
the participants will perform to the accompaniment of the State Youth
Orchestra of Armenia, conducted by Sergey Smbatyan.

The awarding ceremony will be held in Aram Khachatryan Concert Hall,
June 13, and will be followed by a gala concert with participation
of State Youth Orchestra of Armenia and Jaroslav Nadrzycki, the 1st
prize winner of Aram Khachatryan International Violin Competition.

The project is implemented with the support of the Armenian Ministry
of Culture, “Aram Khachatryan” cultural foundation, Yerevan State
Conservatory after Komitas and under the high patronage of First
Lady of Armenia Rita Sargsyan, who is the honorary chairperson of
the competition’s Council of Trustees.

>From 2010 the general partner of the competition is CIS Interstate
Fund for Humanitarian Cooperation (IFHC), which helped to conduct
the program at a more high level and to spread the competition in
CIS states.

The geography of the participants of the competition is very broad;
it includes representatives from 20 countries of the world – Russia,
China, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, China, Korea,
Columbia, Italy, Spain, USA, Japan, Great Britain, and France.

The organizational committee of Aram Khachatryan International
Competition has defined the following awards — $ 15 000 and a diploma
of a laureate for the 1st place, $ 10 000 and a diploma for the 2nd
place, $ 5000 and a diploma for the 3rd place.

All the other participants of the finals will be awarded with diplomas
and $ 2000.

KHADIJA ISMAYILOVA: EUROVISION USED TO PAINT MIDDLE EAST MONARCHY AS EUROPEAN DEMOCRACY

BAKU. June 11, 2012: Expensive hotels, the glossy embankment in the
capital, cafes and restaurants are all waiting for guests. “Baku
Airport is emblazoned with advertisements for the competition… The
gleaming, 25,000-seat concert hall, built especially for the contest,
has been completed on time… But rights activists say that the
government, led by the authoritarian president Ilham Aliyev, is using
the contest to deflect criticism from the country’s appalling human
rights record,” writes The Independent.

The Ukrainian Week spoke with opposition Azerbaijani journalist Khadija
Ismayilova who knows well what happens to those who stand in the way
of the Aliyev family.

U.W.: The president of Azerbaijan is trying to get credit for hosting
this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Baku. Will the event turn into
another PR campaign for his regime?

The Aliyevs’ rule has been accompanied by numerous failures. After
Heydar Aliyev (father of the current president) came to power,
Armenia was able to occupy Nagorno-Karabakh and seven districts
around it and set up a security zone there. That was a defeat in the
fight for Karabakh; 750,000 refugees fled from there to Azerbaijan and
still remain a problem for Baku. The country has also lost a chance to
become a democracy with a market economy. The political system is still
unstable and rests on the police force. And then, after these failures,
the people were given Eurovision. Many forget that this is just a song
contest, not a national accomplishment. A music show does not solve
even one problem. In contrast, new problems arose due to high spending.

The regime is using the victory of one song for its propaganda. The
administration is showing us off to the EU as a modern European
country, but this has nothing to do with reality. In reality, there
is a symbiosis of Soviet rudiments and ideology and a medieval Middle
East monarchy. As in an autocracy, we have shah Aliyev and his family.

Life in the contrary revolves around the Aliyev family, and power
is inheritable.

U.W.: How do Azerbaijanis themselves view the fact that the Eurovision
final will be hosted in their country?

A fest is a good thing, but people need to have something to eat every
day. The inflation rate is high, while salaries have seen virtually
no growth in the past two years. Citizens have few positive prospects
for life. When the oil boom is over, the depression will be even more
evident. So far propaganda and oil dollars have kept the negative
attitudes in check. Part of the population was outraged over the
demolition of buildings to build infrastructure for the contest. In
the past three years, 4,000 objects were forcefully brought down in
Baku and people received no adequate compensation. On the eve of
Eurovision, 281 families were evicted. Thousands of families were
affected. Journalist Idrak Abbasov was videotaping representatives of
a state-owned oil company as they demolished his building together
with all the possessions that were inside. They attacked him and
broke his ribs. According to eyewitnesses, they continued to beat
him for another 15 minutes after he fell and lost consciousness.

U.W.: How are these actions explained on the official level?

The government is trying to rationalise violence with a hunt for
Islamists and claims that terrorist acts are being prepared in Baku.

All investigations into the threat of terrorism raise many questions.

Suspects are beaten into confessions and are sometimes simply killed.

Of course, there are certain dangers because we are neighbours with
Iran. But the picture is not as black as it is painted by the special
services.

U.W.: Is the Aliyev family involved in organising the Eurovision final?

The Aliyevs run everything in the country. A company related to the
family constructed buildings for the song contest. The first lady
chaired the organising committee, while the president’s son-in-law
will sing during breaks in the contest. The Aliyevs laundered huge
sums money in the preparations for the event. Meanwhile, average
Azerbaijanis will be compensating for the money spent on Eurovision
for a long time.

U.W.: But Azerbaijan has an image of a country rich in oil and gas.

Aren’t these resources sufficient to secure a decent standard of
living?

Average citizens almost don’t feel it. The situation in Azerbaijan
is difficult, because this year has been an expensive one; there has
been a lot of spending. Baku is squandering a lot of money to host the
event in a grand way: $800 million has been spent on the preparations
for the Eurovision final. But Azerbaijanis themselves will be missing
at this music celebration. The government is making it exclusively
for itself and guests from the EU. The growth of the national GDP
virtually came to a halt in 2012, so Baku is nervous. And now, on
top of that, it is failing to make all critics of the regime shut up.

The government-declared GDP growth figures are higher than what
they are in reality. The government says that a million jobs have
been created, but this statistic is false. We have never had free
elections, so it is hard to say how the public reacts to this.

There is also great fear in society. First, the system is built in
such a way as to make citizens accomplices to a crime. For example,
400,000 families in Baku live in illicitly built houses. The government
did that on purpose: in the 1990s, it did not set up a cadastre of
land titles in the capital, and we still don’t have one today. Hence,
no newcomers can build or buy anything legally here, so they settle
illegally. They fear that they may be kicked out into the streets at
any moment. Second, government employees, such as doctors and teachers,
are paid ridiculously small salaries – around ~@130. The prices are
about the same as in Ukraine. So bribery is rampant. The country
is totally corrupt. Everyone prefers to not speak about it in order
not to lose what they have. If people come out into the streets to
protest, they and their relatives may be arrested. Eleven people are
still behind bars because a year ago they participated in a peaceful
rally, demanding free elections and freedom of assembly. The country
has over 70 political prisoners, including eight journalists.

U.W.: What are journalists imprisoned for in Azerbaijan?

Primarily for asking the government awkward questions, such as where
the Aliyev family gets its money and where countries oil dollars go
to. They all risk ending up like Elmar Huseynov, the editor-in-chief
of the Monitor magazine who was shot on the porch of his house in
2005. Journalists of the opposition periodical Azadliq were also
beaten and stabbed with knives. In 2010, the commercial director of
Azadliq was videoed having sex with a woman in a private apartment.

The video was broadcast in an evening news programme by a state-owned
TV channel (headed by the president’s cousin) at a time when children
still watch the TV. Faces and genitals were left unobscured. The
accompanying text exposed the opposition. That director had to resign.

U.W.: Something similar has happened to you, too…

Yes, hidden surveillance cameras were installed in my bedroom
and bathroom by representatives of the state telephone company. I
identified the person who installed the cable and appealed to the
prosecutor’s office, but they only questioned my friends about my way
of life and searched for the potentially dangerous (to the regime)
among them. They did nothing regarding the essence of my complaint.

Newspapers run by the ruling party are continuing a campaign to
malign me.

U.W.: How much is this campaign efficient in a Muslim country?

This story of blackmailing showed that our society is much more liberal
than portrayed by the government. The pro-government mass media write
that a woman does not have the right to be in bed with a man she is
not married to. But the public – from the most liberal to the most
conservative circles – expressed its support for me. They understand
the essence of the campaign and accuse the government of unfair play
and exploiting Islam to suit its purposes.

But this doesn’t negate the fact that we have conservative groups,
and as the situation deteriorates, religious sentiments grow. The
population seeks protection in religion when it does not get it from
public institutions. The reality is too horrible and ugly, so they
need a different one.

U.W.: Do you see prospects for positive change in Azerbaijan?

Things will surely take a turn for the worse after the Eurovision Song
Contest, because the government will not forgive us the criticism it
is now being forced to tolerate. But we need to talk about problems,
because the loner we are silent, the more freedoms we lose. But how
can we escape from a submarine? Sooner or later we will change the
country for the better (The Ukrainian Week).

This interview was first published by The Ukrainian Week on June
7, 2012.

TURKISH HISTORIAN TANER AKCAM TALKS ABOUT ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DURING TRIP TO SWITZERLAND

news.am
June 11, 2012 | 19:58

Turkish historian and researcher Taner Akcam visited Switzerland on the
invitation of Christian Solidarity International (CSI) organization. He
met Swiss officials, presented the French translation of his new book
and delivered speeches within the framework of his visit. The Swiss
media fully covered the event.

The Turkish scientist read lectures at Zurich University, at Zurich’s
Glockenhof hotel, St-Gervais Geneve Hall and other places.

He touched upon the Armenian Genocide and the cruelty of the Young
Turks.

NATO CONCERNED OVER AZERI ATTACKS

PanARMENIAN.Net
June 11, 2012 – 20:55 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative
for the South Caucasus and Central Asia commented on tensions at the
contact line.

“We support the OSCE Minsk Group’s efforts in Nagorno Karabakh
conflict settlement. NATO carefully follows current developments and
is concerned over the deteriorating situation at the contact line
between Armenian and Azerbaijani armed forces”, Azeri-Press Agency
(APA) quoted James Appathurai as saying.

He said that NATO supported the peaceful solution of the problem:
“We hope that the tension will be de-escalated”.

MENSOIAN: ARTSAKH IS NOT YET A DONE DEAL
Posted by Michael Mensoian

June 11, 2012

What better time than May 8 to remind ourselves that the liberation
of historic Armenian Artsakh is not yet a done deal. May 8, 1992
marked the capture of the ancient Armenian fortress city of Shushi in
a daring maneuver that caught the Azeris by surprise. It was a bold
strategy that led to an improbable victory that can be compared in
its effect to the victory at Sardarabad in 1918. It may well be time
for the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) to reassume that bold
strategy to lay the groundwork for Artsakh’s de jureindependence. If
the ARF is not willing, who can the Armenians of Artsakh look to?

011 300×200 Mensoian: Artsakh Is Not Yet a Done Deal

Girl drinks from a fountain in Artsakh (Photo by Mireille Marsouwanian)

Since the ceasefire two years later in 1994, Artsakh (Karabakh
and the liberated territories) has not only survived under the
most difficult of conditions, but our brothers and sisters have
transformed a war-ravaged region into a functioning democratic
society. Unfortunately, we have done far less than is necessary or
within our capabilities in assisting Artsakh’s economic development
and its quest for independence.

The ARF through its Central Committees and their ad hoc committees and
lobbying entities throughout the diaspora are engaged in a wide range
of activities that seek to address the injustices that the Armenian
nation has endured since the Ottoman-Turkish government began its
genocide of the Armenian nation on April 24, 1915. During the 70 years
that Armenia was a captive republic under Moscow’s control, the ARF
was the principal institution in the diaspora confronting the Turkish
government’s official policy of denial and historical revisionism with
respect to the Armenian Genocide. During this same period, the ARF was
the principal institutional force that literally saved the traumatized
survivors of the genocide from losing their Armenian identity and
nurtured the belief in the eternal nature of Hai Tahd (Armenian Cause).

With the unforeseen implosion of the Soviet Union, three events
occurred that dramatically changed the political landscape. First,
Armenia declared its independence from the Soviet Union (Russia).

Second, the Armenians of historic Armenian Karabagh declared their
independence. In the war for liberation forced upon them by Azerbaijan,
the Karabaghtsis not only prevailed but liberated adjacent areas of
historic Armenian Artsakh. Today, the historic Armenian Shahumian
district still remains occupied by Azeri military forces, its
population having been terrorized, murdered, or forced to flee their
ancestral homes. The eastern border areas of Martakert and Martuni also
remain under Azeri military occupation. And the third significant event
that occurred was the return of the ARF to an independent Armenia.

In a relatively short span of time, perhaps too quickly, the
field of engagement and the mission of the ARF had expanded to
the Armenian Homeland (Armenia, Artsakh, and Javakhk). However, the
principal thrust of its strategy remained focused on Turkey: genocide
recognition, reparations, the return of religious properties, and
the criminalization of public denial of the Armenian Genocide. These
efforts can be easily defended because each victory immediately
meets the expectations of the Diasporan Armenians. Unfortunately,
these victories have no political legs.

Yet they are important because they do assuage the psycho-emotional
needs of our people. Having said this, we must also accept the fact
that a century later we are no closer to achieving the justice we
seek nor is the Turkish leadership any closer to acknowledging the
genocide that sought to destroy our nation.

Compounding our difficulties is the serious misunderstanding on our
part between what world political leaders mean when they suggest
that Turkey revisit its past and our expectation of what it means
for Turkey to revisit its past. The disconnect is that our demand
for acknowledgment is a component of Hai Tahd. What is suggested by
foreign political leaders has no connection to Hai Tahd. It is simply a
need for Turkey to confront its past history and acknowledge what the
Armenians have suffered during the dying days of the Ottoman-Turkish
Empire. It is not accusatory. Having said that, I can think of any
number of governments, some of which have recognized the Armenian
Genocide, that would eagerly support a hypocritical Turkish apology
based on a sanitized version of what happened.

Support from these so-called sympathetic foreign governments cannot
be depended upon. These governments have no intention, desire, or the
fortitude to confront Turkey on the genocide issue when it includes
restitution, reparations, or boundary rectification. This is the
meaning of Hai Tahd to Armenians and it is these demands that make
Hai Tahd a political issue. Can you name a foreign government that
would take up the cudgels for Armenia vis-a-vis Turkey, let alone
for the ARF, in this political context? We refuse to consider that
given the opportunity, foreign leaders would eagerly opt to have the
genocide issue simply go away, to vanish forever.

While the diaspora is engaged in these skirmishes, the key to Hai Tahd,
the credibility of the ARF, and the future of Armenia has been and
still remains victory in Artsakh. Independence is neither guaranteed
nor will it be handed to us as a gift.

Artsakh represents the only political victory our people have
experienced during the modern period of Armenian history. And at this
moment in time, it is not yet a done deal. De jure independence would
be a major diplomatic victory for Armenians and a humiliating defeat
for Azerbaijan and, by extension, its ally, Turkey. Not only would it
represent a seismic shift in the political fortunes of Armenia, but it
would be a fitting memorial to the thousands of Azatamartiks (freedom
fighters) who sacrificed their lives for their families, their land,
and their inalienable right to live as Armenians. And it would endorse
Hai Tahd as a bona fide Dashnaktsutiun manifesto. No effort alone
or in combination currently underway within the diaspora can match
the importance of this potential political victory. And there is no
victory that could better prepare us as we enter the post-2015 years.

>From an economic standpoint, de jure recognition would encourage a
sharp increase in foreign investment in Artsakh as well as an increase
in economic and humanitarian aid from the diaspora and from foreign
governments that have hesitated to enter a politically delicate
situation. Given the spirit of the Artsakh Armenians, this would be
the catalyst that would set the region on an explosive growth that
could easily sustain a minimum population of one million (see “The
Key to Armenia’s Political and Economic Future,” The Armenian Weekly
Special Issue, January 2010). Artsakh should be recognized for what
it represents. It is the future economic frontier of Armenia.

The ARF must live up to its revolutionary heritage. The party must take
the lead with Stepanakert to convene a series of working conferences,
each of which would be given a specific mandate.

Conference “A” would involve specialists in Soviet constitutional law
who would frame the case for Karabagh’s legal right to have declared
its independence. This is crucial. It does not matter that the ARF
or Stepanakert believe the people of Karabagh had that right.

The findings of this conference with its distinguished participants
should be published and distributed to as wide an audience as
necessary.

Conference “B” would explore the right of the Artsakh Armenians to
declare their independence based on either the principle of remedial
secession or self-determination. International legal scholars should
be given the task to frame the case for the Artsakh Armenians. These
findings should also be published and distributed to as wide an
audience as necessary.

Participants of Conference “C” would author a well-documented report
that covers the 70 years that the Armenians of Artsakh were subjected
to the discriminatory policies by Azerbaijan; the separation of the
historic Armenian Shahumian district from Karabagh and its subsequent
depopulation; the various permutation of genocide-including pogroms
and the destruction of historic Armenian artifacts; the military
occupation of Shahumian and the occupation of the border districts
of Martakert and Martuni by the Azeri military; and the continual
breaches along the Line of Contact and the unprovoked killings of
Karabagh military personnel by sniper fire.

This report should be published and distributed to as wide an audience
as is necessary. Unfortunately, the full story of Artsakh has not been
told to the world, let alone to the majority of Diasporan Armenians who
remain on the sidelines during this significant moment in our history.

There is an absolute need that Karabagh become a principal party in
the negotiations. Doing this would undercut Azerbaijan’s position
by recognizing Artsakh and eliminating its claim that this is an
irredentist movement by Armenia. By making this claim, Baku is
able to define the conflict as an attempt by Armenia to regain lost
territories and threaten its territorial integrity. Again, experts
must be consulted to separate the usual conflict that arises between
the claim of territorial integrity (which technically does not apply)
by Azerbaijan and humanitarian intervention rightfully exercised by
Armenia. After nearly 20 years (from the 1994 ceasefire) we have
yet to define the Artsakh issue to our advantage. How can this be
viewed in a positive light? None of the principles that the Minsk
Group has proposed over the years to guide the negotiations ever
speak to Artsakh becoming an independent political entity. That in
itself should cause us alarm.

Short informational films that depict various aspects of life in
Artsakh should be available to inform our people and others to see
the giant strides that have been made. These films should show the
destruction, as well, that was caused by Azerbaijan’s intransigence.

There should be a steady stream of visiting legislative leaders,
news-makers, business people, and educators among the various groups
that should be cultivated to espouse our cause. Our public relations
effort has been woefully inadequate.

Our lack of the required effort should not be excused by our need to
pursue what many like to tout as our present successful strategy. No
one is advocating an either-or strategy. The work being carried on in
the diaspora must continue, but it must be understood that Artsakh’s
de jure recognition far transcends all else. Our mission in helping
Artsakh gain its deserved recognition by the world community of nations
must be comprehensive, multi-faceted, coordinated, properly staffed,
and financed. A failure in Artsakh will have a domino effect on our
century-long struggle for justice, especially as we approach the
watershed year of 2015. Hai Tahd will lose its relevancy; and Armenia
would be relegated to a position within the south Caucasus that makes
it politically and economically subservient to neighboring Turkey,
Georgia, and victorious Azerbaijan. It would be a situation that I
would regret having lived to see.

ANALYST: US ATTEMPTS TO SETTLE ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS ARE DIRECTED AGAINST RUSSIA

arminfo
Monday, June 11, 18:00

US attempts to settle the Armenian-Turkish relations are directed not
against Iran but Russia, director of the Centre for Regional Studies,
Richard Giragossian, said at today’s press-conference.

“The USA has taken an attempt to link Armenia with the East so
that to distance Russia from affecting Armenia. But fortunately
the diplomatic structures of Armenia are on a higher level and did
not rise to the bite”, – the analyst said and added that Armenia
strictly understands what way to develop. For this reason, it said
many times that joining NATO is not interesting to Armenia as it may
have irreversible consequences for the country, he said. Iran is a
secondary state for Armenia as long as it has the trade relations
with Russia and European Union.

When commenting on regular session of BSEC to be held on 26 June in
Turkey, he said that the session of this organization is one of few
platforms where Armenia and Turkey meet (Armenia’s Foreign Minister
Edward Nalbandyan is invited at this session) and is evidence of the
diplomatic relations between the two states.