Author: Khondkarian Raffi

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The Armenians

We continue with our river cruise, circa 1880. There are many mansions
lining the waterfront. After all, if you are a big shot, this is the
place to build your house. This one, for example, was built by Manuk,
a zamindar of Armenian descent:

But what is an Armenian doing in Dhaka? Armenians, like other foreign
ethnic groups, came to the subcontinent in search of new
opportunities. The earliest Armenian grave in Dhaka that I am aware
of, is dated 1741, so it is reasonable to assume that the first
Armenians arrived some time prior to that. At that time Dhaka was
still a large and prosperous city in the post-Mughal period. Initially
these people found success as contractors in the salt trade. As Dhaka
declined in the early years of British rule, the Armenians stayed on,
now working on behalf of the East India Company. The Armenian Church,
founded in 1781, was a focal point of this community, and still today
remains perhaps the most significant of Dhaka’s historic
churches. Eventually Armenians sought opportunities in other
commodities, such as jute and leather, and were quite successful in
this regard. By 1900 there were around half a dozen families of
Armenian zamindars in Dhaka, such as that of Manuk. Over time this
community has gradually whithered away. As of a few years ago, there
was just one Armenian left in Dhaka, who used to look after the
church. I don’t know if he is still alive or not (he would be 77 this
year). The church, to the best of my knowlege, hosts
multi-denominational (as opposed to Armenian) services today.

ARMENIA, VENEZUELA ESTABLISHING CLOSE COOPERATION

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
21.07.2009 11:12 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Newly appointed Venezuela’s Ambassador to Armenia
Hugo Jose Garcia handed the copy of his credentials to Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.

The diplomat discussed political and economic issues as well as some
international and regional problems.

Wishing the Ambassador every success at the post, Minister Nalbandian
voiced hope for sustainable cooperation between the two countries,
RA MFA press office reported.

ARMENIA STRIDING TOWARDS EUROPEAN INTEGRATION

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
21.07.2009 11:19 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia is striding towards European integration,
RA Foreign Minister said.

"Cooperation between Armenia and European Union is multifarious. It
includes the European Neighborhood Policy and the Eastern
Partnership. Besides, we hold continuous political dialogue," Edward
Nalbandian said at a joint news conference with his Swedish counterpart
Carl Bildt.

He also informed that talks with EU Troika delegation focused on
resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and outcomes of Moscow
meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents.

For his part, Mr. Bildt said that the current visit provided a good
opportunity to discuss the Eastern Partnership.

"The Eastern Partnership is the evidence of EU’s strategic interest
to strengthen cooperation with all countries of the region," he said.

HIGH-LEVEL ARMENIAN-AZERBAIJANI NEGOTIATIONS ON THE PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT OF THE NAGORNO KARABAKH TOOK PLACE IN MOSCOW

President.am
July 20 2009
Armenia

High-level Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations on the peaceful settlement
of the Nagorno Karabakh took place today at the President Hotel
in Moscow.

The meeting of the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and the
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev started with the participation
of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the two countries Edward
Nalbandian and Elmar Mamedyarov, Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group Yuri Merzlyakov, Bernard Fassier, Matthew Bryza and the
Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej
Kasprzyk. Later, the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan continued
negotiations one on one. After the private conversation of the two
Presidents, the negotiations resumed with the participation of the
Foreign Ministers and the Co-chairs.

In a constructive spirit the parties have decided to continue
negotiations directed at a peaceful settlement of the NK conflict.

Presidents Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliev instructed the Ministers
of Foreign Affairs together with the Minsk Group Co-chairs to start
preliminary works for a probable meeting of the two Presidents
this fall.

Trend, Azerbaijan
July 18 2009

Armenian, Azerbaijani presidents instruct FMs to organize their new
meeting in autumn

The Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents have instructed their foreign
ministers to jointly work with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs on the
Nagorno-Karabakh to organize a new high-level meeting in autumn. This
is the result of the Moscow meeting of Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan
on July 17, the presidential press service told ITAR TASS in Yerevan.

The parties "have demonstrated a constructive attitude to continue
negotiations for a peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict," the
press service said.

The Moscow meeting began with the participation of foreign ministers
of Armenia and Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov and Edward Nalbandyan and
the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs Yuri Merzlyakov /Russia/, Bernard
Fassier /France/, and Matthew Bryza /U.S./ as well as the OSCE
Chairman Special Envoy Andzey Kasprzyk. Then the presidents continued
the twosome negotiations, after which the ministers and the co-chairs
again joined them.

AUSTRALIAN SIBLINGS IN IRANIAN AIR DISASTER

Brisbane Times
siblings-in-iranian-air-disaster-20090715-dlkj.htm l
July 16 2009
Australia

Two Australians are believed to have been among 168 people killed
after a plane crash in north-west Iran.

The Department of Foreign Affairs today confirmed that two Australians
– a NSW brother and sister aged in their 20s – were listed on the
flight manifesto for the Caspian Airlines Tupolev TU-154 that crashed
near the city of Qazvin.

The siblings hold dual citizenship with Australia and Iran, a DFAT
spokeswoman said.

A statement from DFAT said the siblings’ remains had not yet been
identified.

"Consular staff from the Australian embassy in Tehran, Iran,
are seeking urgent information from local authorities about the
arrangements to identify the Australians and assistance to return
their remains," the statement said.

"The plane is completely destroyed and bodies are burned and ruined,"
the state-run Mehr newsagency cited a provincial police chief, Masoud
Jafarinasab, as saying.

The aircraft went down 16 minutes after taking off from the Imam
Khomeini International Airport in Tehran, a spokesman for Iran’s
aviation agency, Reza Jafarzadeh, told Mehr. He said flight 7908 was
headed for the Armenian capital, Yerevan.

The plane was carrying 153 passengers and 15 crew, he told state TV
in a phone interview.

Most of the passengers were Armenians, but some Georgian citizens
and other foreigners were on board, the Associated Press reported,
citing an unidentified representative of the plane’s operator,
Caspian Airlines.

Debris was scattered across an area stretching up to 15 kilometres,
suggesting the aircraft disintegrated in the air, Mehr reported,
without citing anyone.

The plane appears to have come down about halfway into its climb,
said David Learmount, a former British Royal Air Force pilot and
air-safety editor at Flight International magazine.

The nature of the impact suggests a loss of control rather than a
crash landing, he said.

Even if two of the three engines fail, a TU-154 pilot can attempt to
land in a controlled way. The model has a safety record comparable
to Boeings of the same generation, such as the 727, Mr Learmount said.

"Its safety record is good but not quite comparable with that of a
modern Airbus or Boeing. The pilot’s situational awareness is not up
to what a modern cockpit can give you."

Caspian Airlines refused to comment on what may have caused the plane
to crash before examining its flight data recorders, the Russian
newsagency Interfax said.

It is too early to say whether the model’s age or characteristics
played any part in the disaster, Mr Learmount stressed.

ALIYEV HOPES FOR FRANCE’S MEDIATION IN KARABAKH SETTLEMENT

Interfax
July 14 2009
Russia

Azerbaijan counts on the efforts of France in settling the conflict
in Nagorno-Karabakh, a message of greeting from Azeri President Ilham
Aliyev to French President Nicholas Sarkozy on Bastille Day says.

In his message of greeting to the president of France President Aliyev
expressed great hope for the efforts of France to speedily settle the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group,
Interfax was told at the presidential administration.

The message stresses the importance of cooperation between the two
countries in the framework of international organizations and projects.

ARMENIAN GROUP FROM ROSTOV-ON-DON AWARDED GARND-PRIX DURING DAGOMYS INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
14.07.2009 19:50 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Barracuda amateur musical group consisting of
Armenian diaspora representatives from Rsotov-on-Don (Krasnodar
Territory) has held victory during Dagomys international art festival
entitled "On High Waves".

Rostov’s musical group is unique in that it is capable of
combining exotic musical instruments that seem quite "incompatible",
e.g. Armenian duduk and dhol, tabla (Indian drums), udu (African clay
drums), maraca etc. It’s a universal collective, presenting mixed
styles and cultures. That was why it was awarded Grand Prix during
festival, "Yerkramas" newspaper of Russian-Armenians reports.

GAGIK JHANGIRIAN: PEOPLE’S MOVEMENT IS DOOMED TO VICTORY

Noyan Tapan
July 14, 2009

YEREVAN, JULY 14, NOYAN TAPAN. Armenia’s law enforcement bodies
and judicial system do not carry out their constitutional and
legislative duties and have been completely turned into structures
serving regime’s political orders, concealing wealthy persons’,
state officials’ business and property. Former RA Deputy Prosecutor
General Gagik Jhangirian made such a statement at the July 14 press
conference. Henceforth he will coordinate the work of the Armenian
National Congress’ State and Legal Commission and Center for Legal
Protection.

According to G. Jhangirian, law enforcement and judicial bodies not
only fail to carry out their duties, but also violate the Constitution
and the laws with their illegal actions. "Thousands of citizens
continue undergoing administrative, police, criminal prosecutions for
their political views and convictions, active civil position," he said.

According to G. Jhangirian, the Police are overloaded with functions
not peculiar to them, mass political persecutions, limitations
of citizens’ free travel, blockades of roads and populated areas,
which take huge efforts, time, human and material resources from that
structure. As a result the structure in essence has been isolated from
its main duties of fighting crime, the direct consequence of which is
the unprecedented growth of crime and low index of crimes disclosure.

According to G. Jhangirian’s estimation, the Prosecutor’s Office has
been turned into a bureau of planning artificial criminal intrigues
against political oppositionists, their family members and relatives,
even against their friends, and the Special Investigation Service
has become a workshop of perverting and spoiling young investigators.

G. Jhangirian also considers that we have a deep crisis in the judicial
sphere in Armenia: a citizen is absolutely unprotected, applying for
law enforcement bodies for protection of his freedoms and rights is
not only vain, but is also fraught with unpredictable consequences as
there is no guarantee that he will not be turned from a persecuted
person into a charged one. "It is the main motivation of citizen’s
choosing migration as a way out from estrangement, self-isolation,
hard moral-psychological condition," G. Jhangirian said.

To come out of the formed situation and to improve the situation
ANC is going to create a special data base of recording violations
of citizens’ rights and freedoms. The collected information will be
provided to the future authorities of Armenia to restore citizens’
violated rights. "The people’s movement is doomed to a victory,"
G. Jhangirian said not excluding a victory through special elections.

MINSK GROUP HOPEFUL OF KARABAKH ‘BREAKTHROUGH’
By Liz Fuller

ISN – International Relations & Security Network
/Security-Watch/Detail/?ots591=4888CAA0-B3DB-1461- 98B9-E20E7B9C13D4&lng=en&id=103199
July 13 2009

Ambassadors Bernard Fassier of France (left), Matthew Bryza of the
US and Yury Merzlyakov of Russia (right), the Co-Chairmen of the OSCE
Minsk Group Speaking in Baku, Russian co-Chairman Yury Merzlyakov said
the co-chairs are hopeful that next week’s meeting between the two
presidents could lead to a breakthrough, Liz Fuller reports for RFE/RL.

The visit by the French, Russian, and US co-chairmen of the OSCE
Minsk Group to Yerevan and Baku may have brought a formal settlement
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict one step closer.

Meeting with the Minsk Group co-chairs on July 8 and 10, respectively,
the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to meet in Moscow on 17
July. That meeting will be the sixth between Armenian President Serzh
Sarkisian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in just over a year.

Speaking in Baku on 10 July, Russian co-Chairman Yury Merzlyakov said
the co-chairs are hopeful that next week’s meeting between the two
presidents could lead to a breakthrough. But he said it is unlikely
that any document will be signed at that meeting.

French co-Chairman Bernard Fassier said in Yerevan on 8 July that
the conflict parties have agreed on almost all the 15 or so points
of the Basic Principles for resolving the conflict.

He said they still have to reach agreement on the future status of
Nagorno-Karabakh and on security guarantees for its predominantly
Armenian population.

Azerbaijan’s President Aliyev told a Russian television channel
last weekend that the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh could remain
undecided for 10 or even 100 years.

Armenia and Azerbaijan still disagree over whether Nagorno-Karabakh
should join the peace talks. Aliyev said this is unnecessary and
would be "disruptive."

But Russian Minsk group co-chairman Merzlyakov told journalists in
Yerevan on 8 July that the co-chairs would like Nagorno-Karabakh
representatives to join the talks after the signing of the Basic
Principles.

Snipers

Speaking today at a conference in Stepanakert, de facto
Nagorno-Karabakh leader Bako Sahakian said no peace agreement is
possible without Karabakh’s participation.

"Karabakh, which is the main party to the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict,
has been left out of the negotiations, and we must achieve the return
to this important principle. It is impossible to realize any solution
without the consent of the people of the Nagorno-Karabakh republic,"
Sahakian said.

The co-chairs hailed on 8 July the stated readiness of both
Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia to withdraw the Armenian snipers deployed
along the Line of Contact that separates Armenian and Azerbaijani
forces. Snipers kill dozens of servicemen on both sides every
year. Azerbaijan, however, has not yet agreed to withdraw its snipers.

A further potential sticking point is the timeframe for the withdrawal
of Armenian forces from seven districts of Azerbaijan they currently
control. The Basic Principles require a withdrawal from five of those
districts and the deployment of international peacekeepers in the
other two, which lie between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia.

Karabakh Defense Minister Lieutenant General Movses Hakopian was quoted
on July 9 as saying no one has asked Karabakh to withdraw from those
districts, and that the unrecognized republic’s leadership does not
intend to give them up.

The French, Russian, and US presidents issued a statement on 10 July
at the G8 summit in Aquila calling on the presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan to resolve the remaining differences and complete the
conflict resolution process.

RFE/RL’s Armenian and Azerbaijani services contributed to this report.