Author: Mamian George

A MAJORITY OF THE SWISS PEOPLE ADOPTED THE POPULAR INITIATIVE AGAINST THE CONSTRUCTION OF MINARETS

AZG DAILY
01-12-2009

Religion

According to swissinfo.ch, to the great surprise of pollsters and
the regret of the government, the Swiss on Sunday said yes to a ban
on the construction of minarets.

According to final results, 57.5 per cent of voters and a majority
of cantons backed the initiative.

Turnout was high, at around 53 per cent.

The result comes as a major surprise and a slap in the face of the
government. Opinion polls ahead of the vote had predicted the ban
would be rejected by 53 per cent of the electorate.

The proposal on banning minaret construction was championed by
rightwing and ultra-conservative groups. The government and most
political parties as well as churches and the business community came
out strongly against it.

"A majority of the Swiss people and the cantons have adopted the
popular initiative against the construction of minarets. The Federal
Council respects this decision," a government statement said.

"Consequently the construction of new minarets in Switzerland is no
longer permitted. The four existing minarets will remain. It will
also be possible to continue to construct mosques."

The statement said freedom of belief would not be affected. "Muslims in
Switzerland are able to practise their religion alone or in community
with others, and live according to their beliefs just as before."

Swiss Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf had argued strongly
against a ban on minaret construction.

"The initiative is a kind of ‘proxy war’. Its supporters say they are
against minarets. But they want to fight what they consider creeping
Islamicisation and sharia law," she said ahead of the vote.

Opponents warned that approval of the proposal would fuel Islamic
extremism and damage Switzerland’s image abroad, particularly in the
Muslim world.

Supporters of a ban argued minarets are a symbol of an Islamic claim
to power.

"The Islamic religion is intolerant, but we do not want to limit
freedom of religion, we want to outlaw the political symbol," said
Ulrich Schluer, a member of the rightwing Swiss People’s party and
one of the leading promoters of the anti-minaret initiative.

Supporters tapped into public concern about the growing Muslim
community in Switzerland, radical imams, the role of women, as well
as head scarves and other dress codes.

The number of Muslim immigrants has increased to about 350,000 (up
to 4.5 per cent of the Swiss population) since the 1990s. Most came
from the former Yugoslavia and Turkey and are considered moderates.

There are an estimated 200 mosques and prayer rooms in Switzerland,
mainly in disused factories and warehouses. Only four have a minaret,
including the mosques in Geneva and Zurich.

In the wake of heated debates at a local level about requests to build
more minarets, members of the People’s Party and the Federal Democratic
Union collected enough signatures to force a nationwide vote.

Their campaign made use of a provocative poster campaign, which
was criticised as racist by non-governmental organisations and
international bodies.

FRANCE CALLS BAKU AND YEREVAN TO REACH AGREEMENT

news.am
Dec 1 2009
Armenia

Presently, there are weighty prerequisites to reach settlement on
Nagorno-Karabakh and Transnistrian conflict, said French Foreign
Minister Bernard Kouchner, speaking at the OSCE Ministerial Council
conference in Athens.

According to him, owing to OSCE MG as well as Armenian and Azerbaijani
Presidents’ efforts, significant steps are taken towards the conflict
resolution.

"There were six presidential meetings within current year. Hopefully,
same progress will be achieved in Athens either and the conflict
will be resolved shortly. I urge both countries’ foreign ministers
to achieve and process written agreement on the conflict settlement,"
said Kouchner.

"We have to step up our role in settlement of &’frozen conflicts’,
taking into account that OSCE attempts in the course of recent
developments in Georgia failed," underlined FM.

He maintains that France supports Russia’s new initiative on security
in Europe, inter alia stipulating the resolution of regional conflicts,
"Settlement of old conflicts and prevention of new threats is the
core constituents for new security system creation."

AHMADINEJAD CRITICIZES RUSSIA

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
02.12.2009 13:22 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russia will join any consensus on more sanctions
against Iran, a senior Russian diplomatic source said on Tuesday after
Tehran declared it would expand nuclear activity in defiance of a U.N.

rebuke. It was a thinly veiled Russian warning to Iran of waning
patience with its failure to allay fears it aims to develop atom
bombs in secret, and hinted that Iran could no longer rely on Russia
to stop tougher world action against it, Reuters reported.

"If there is a consensus on Iran sanctions, we will not stand aside,"
said the Russian diplomatic source, who requested anonymity due to
the sensitivity of the situation.

By referring to "consensus", Russia could be leaving itself an
escape hatch since China has been the most resistant to punitive
steps against Iran among the six world powers.

The source made clear Moscow would not move so fast to embrace
harsher sanctions as the United States and EU powers, who want to act
early next year if Tehran has not begun fulfilling IAEA demands for
nuclear restraint and transparency by then. "We will be thinking about
sanctions but this is not an issue of the next few hours or weeks,"
he said.

Russia did not want to complicate the situation with threats
against Iran. "We would rather have Iran cooperating more openly and
consistently with the IAEA and showing clear steps to lift concerns –
which are gaining greater foundation — than introducing sanctions
against Iran," the source said.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad voiced defiance on Tuesday,
saying sanctions would have no effect and that no more talks on
the nuclear dispute were needed with the West. Speaking on state
television, he also criticized Russian action.

"Russia made a mistake by backing the anti-Iran resolution and
we believe that their analysis in this regard was incorrect,"
Ahmadinejad said.

In his televised comments, Ahmadinejad dismissed the threat of
sanctions and warned any "aggressor" against Iran. "Sanctions will
have no effect. Aggressors will regret their action as soon as they
put their finger on the trigger," he said. "No one can isolate Iran
because global interactions and Iran’s unique characteristics in the
Middle East will not allow such a move."

FIRESTONE INTERNATIONAL TO INVEST IN DIAMOND CUTTING IN ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
01.12.2009 15:28 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan visited Nor
Hajn-based diamond processing Lori LLC on December 1.

The round was followed by working meeting with participation of the
President, Economy Minister, the company’s management and investors
from the Firestone International, diamond and jewelry manufacturing
company based in Mumbai and Surat (India).

Serzh Sargsyan familiarized the meeting participants with a concept
developed and approved by the government. "This concept will help
ensure progress not only in diamond cutting but also in fine jewelry
manufacturing industries in Armenia," he said.

According to RA Economy Minister Nerses Yeritsyan, on behalf of
the president of Armenia public and private stakeholders will work
together to bring the Indian largest diamond and jewelry company
having markets in the U.S. and Europe to Armenia.

Lori’s management presented the investment project supposed to
be carried out with the Firestone International. Several tens
million-dollar investments and hundreds of new jobs are expected
in the diamond and jewelry industry of Armenia. Nerses Yeritsyan
informed that Armenian Diaspora also revealed interest in investing
in these industries.

RA AND THE U.S EXPERIENCED IN MUTUAL COOPERATION IN LEGAL ISSUES

PanARMENIAN.Net
30.11.2009 22:06 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Prosecutor General of Armenia Aghvan Hovsepyan
received Andrea Tisi, Senior Attorney of Office for External Relations
at U.S. Ministry of Justice on November 30. During the meeting the
officials discussed issues of cooperation between law enforcement
agencies of Armenia and the United States. The parties stressed that,
despite there is no agreement on mutual legal assistance between
Armenia and the United States, the countries have shaped a good
experience of cooperation.

ARAM KARAPETYAN: KARABAKH SETTLEMENT PROCESS NOT IN FAVOR OF ARMENIA
Lena Badeyan

"Radiolur"
30.11.2009 14:37

If nothing changes during the coming years, there will again be many
"visitors" from the opposition at the next congress of the Republican
Party, leader of the New Times Party Aram Karapetyan concluded after he
saw how many opposition figures attended the 12th congress on Saturday.

Analyzing the current domestic and foreign policies, Aram Kareptyan
said both are paused. He is confident, however, that the process of
settlement of the Karabakh issue is not in Armenia’s favor.

The leader of the New Times Party is assured that the negotiations
currently focus on the return of five territories.

Serzh Sargsyan: RPA must assume the role of progressive fighter for
political, economic and public modernization

2009-11-28 21:27:00

ArmInfo. The most terrible thing in the post-election developments of
2008 was the split among people, Armenian President, Leader of the
Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) Serzh Sargsyan said at the 12th
congress of RPA, Saturday.

According to him, at the moment the most important task is to
consolidate the society, and experience, knowledge and will should be
applied to solve carry out this task. Sargsyan said that the
post-election developments displayed the weakness of the state
political and public institutes. "If the institutes of civil society
were developed and political forces were more responsible, it would
have been possible to prevent the post-election developments",- he
stressed.

The president expressed confidence that RPA will be able and must
assume the role of a progressive fighter for political, economic and
public modernization for the coming years. "We voluntarily assumed the
responsibility before people, so far we have taken no step that runs
counter to our promises and programs",- Sargsyan said.

Furthermore, the RPA leader pointed out that the process of
development of RPA organization in the districts and regions
continues. "We are a predictable and reliable force, and our partners
can rely on us and build programs. We develop our activity as a party
of the 21st century. A contemporary party may be formed by a
contemporary society, and on the contrary, a contemporary party may
contribute to formation of a contemporary society",- he said.

United Russia Party Aims to Strengthen Cooperation with Republican
Party of Armenia

Tert.am
13:54 – 28.11.09

The 12th Republican Party of Armenia convention kicked off this
morning with the attendance of two-thirds of the 1,806 delegates who
had registered to attend the convention taking place at Yerevan’ Karen
Demirjian Sport and Concert Complex. As announced by RPA and Armenia’s
President Serzh Sargsyan during his opening speech, all of RPA’s
conventions begin with prayer, and this one would be no different. The
president invited His Eminence Archbishop Navasard Kjoyan who
conducted the prayer, after which the convention began.

The governing party’s convention began with the discussion of a few
technical issues: in particular, the election of the audit committee
secretariate.

Invited to the convention, and in attendance, were representatives
from Russia’s governing party, United Russia, as well as from national
parties from Europe. United Russia’s president Vladimir Putin’s
greetings for the RPA convention were conveyed by a leading member of
the party, Artur Chilingarov.

Recalling Serzh Sargsyan’s visits to Moscow this past year, as well as
the more than a hundred intergovernmental and interdepartmental
agreements that exist between the two countries, Chilingarov noted
that Armenia-Russia relations are developing in a steadfast and
harmonious manner. The United Russia member expressed his hopes that
the RPA convention will promote the resolution of any forthcoming
issues in Armenia, adding that United Russia plans to strengthen
coooperation with the Republican Party of Armenian, in interregional
development, in particular.

AZERI OFFICIAL DISMISSES PIECEMEAL APPROACH TO KARABAKH TALKS

APA
Nov 26 2009
Azerbaijan

Baku, 26 November: "Our principle in settlement of the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict is ‘Nothing is agreed on until everything is agreed
on," spokesman of the [Azerbaijani] Foreign Ministry Elxan Poluxov
told APA in response to Turkish media reports concerning details
of the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents’ meeting in Munich [on
22 November].

On Azerbaijan’s position he said that territories around Nagornyy
Karabakh should be liberated first, infrastructure should be
rehabilitated, internally displaced persons should return, Nagornyy
Karabakh should be given a temporary status and then the final status
should be determined.

AKSEL BAKUNTS, ONE OF THE GREATEST SOVIET ARMENIAN WRITERS, NOW TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH

AZG DAILY
26-11-2009

Culture

Born in Goris, Bakunts was one of the greatest Soviet Armenian
writers. His prose captured the spirit and landscape of Armenian
peasant life in the early Soviet years. Much criticised by Soviet
authorities, his work became a window into early Soviet Armenian life.

The Dark Valley [Mtnadsor] is a series of 18 short stories, first
published in 1927. They were translated by Nairi Hakhverdi with an
introduction by Victoria Rowe.

Like other Armenian intellectuals, Aksel Bakunts was executed during
Stalin’s purges.

Aksel Bakunts, The Dark Valley, translated from Armenians by Nairi
Hakhverdi with an introduction by Victoria Rowe, London: Taderon Press,
148 pp, ISBN 9781903656907, UK£10.00 / US$18.00.

For more information please visit

To order a copy please contact [email protected]

Taderon Press is a division of the Gomidas Institute, 42 Blythe Rd.,
London W14 0HA, England.