Author: nina hovnanian

A. ASHOTYAN: DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION IN ARMENIA SURPASSES EVEN SOME EU COUNTRIES

Panorama
Nov 4 2011
Armenia

UNDP report says that Armenia has improved human resources development
index, which includes figures from health, economy, poverty and other
spheres. Armenia’s Minister of Education and Science Armen Ashotyan
says he signifies the development of education recorded in the index,
since he’s the responsible body of the sphere.

Minister Ashotyan has said it’s evident that foreign experts are more
optimistic towards the educational developments in Armenia than those
within the country. “According to the index of education, Armenia
gains the 56th horizontal. In terms of development of education,
Armenia surpasses some EU countries,” said Armen Ashotyan.

Referring to the regional countries, Minister Ashotyan said the
report covered world countries generally. The Minister has noted that
Armenia’s education is a little bit poor than Georgia’s, but advanced
than Azerbaijan’s Iran’s and Turkey’s systems of education.

NO BREAKTHROUGH ON KARABAKH IN NEXT TWO YEARS – INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP

news.am
Nov 4 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN.- Prior to the meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders in
Kazan there was hope that both sides will reach agreement at least
on the basic principles, said Sabine Freizer, Crisis Group’s Europe
Program Director.

Unfortunately, international community was disappointed with the
meeting’s results, she told journalists in Baku.

As regards Turkey’s role in Karabakh talks, Freizer considers that
Ankara had interesting ideas, APA news agency reports.

“But Turkey has border problem with Armenia, therefore there
are difficulties. If Turkey wants to make any contribution to the
negotiations on Nagorno Karabakh conflict, to join the process from
positive aspect, it first of all should normalize the relations with
Armenia,” she added.

According to her, no serious breakthrough is expected in resolution
of the conflict in the next two years. “Elections will be held in the
co-chairing countries – Russia, US and France in the coming two years.

Therefore, I think it is unlikely that there will be any improvement
in the negotiations,” APA quotes the expert.

EMHRN CALLS FOR THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF FALSELY ACCUSED TURKISH HR ACTIVISTS

Kurdish Aspect

Nov 4 2011

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network

Copenhagen-Brussels-The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN)
condemns the arbitrary arrest of Human Rights defenders Ragib Zarakolu
and BuÅ~_ra Ersanlı, both falsely charged with “being a member of
an illegal organisation”, the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK).

On 28 October, 2011, Turkish authorities raided several offices of
the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) in the province of Istanbul and
arrested prominent Human Right activists Ragib Zarakolu and BuÅ~_ra
Ersanlı, together with some fifty other people, mainly members and
executives of the BDP.

This raid, a vast anti-terrorist operation allegedly aimed at
dismantling the KCK -considered the urban branch of the armed Kurdistan
Worker’s Party (PKK), constitutes a blatant attack on activists for
their work on human rights and their attempts to find a peaceful
solution to the Kurdish issue.

Ragip Zarakolu is an Honorary Board member of the Human Rights
Association (Ä°nsan Haklari Dernegi – Ä°HD). He is also Director of
the Belge Publishing House and Chairman of the Publishers Association
Freedom to Publish Committee of Turkey, and a prominent human rights
activist who has published extensively on human rights, national
minorities, and the Armenian genocide. His arrest comes little after
receiving the Hakop Meghapart Medal of Honour Lifetime Achievement
Award from the Armenian Human Rights Association for his contribution
to Armenian history, culture, and literature in Turkey.

BuÅ~_ra Ersanlı, a member of the Constitution Committee and the
General Assembly of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), has worked
with NGOs on women’s rights in the political sphere. In parallel,
Ersanli works as a lecturer at the Faculty of Political Sciences and
International Relations at Marmara University.

Both were charged on 1 November, 2011 for being members of an illegal
organisation under Article 314 of the Turkish Penal Code by Ä°stanbul
Heavy Penal Court No. 14, despite the fact that neither of them belong
to the KCK. Zarakolu and Ersanli are currently detained in separate
prisons, and are granted access to their families and lawyers.

The EMHRN condemns the continued policy of arbitrary arrests of
human rights defenders and activists in Turkey – in particular
of IHD members, trade union members, and activists working on the
Kurdish issue.

The EMHRN recalls the detainment and arrests of dozens of human rights
defenders on alleged terrorism charges, including Muharrem Erbey,
IHD General Vice Chairperson who has been in pre-trial detainment
since 2009.

Moreover, the EMHRN calls upon the Turkish authorities to put an end
to the current policy of harassment and arbitrary arrest of human
rights defenders in an effort to undermine their work. The EMHRN asks
for the immediately release of Zarakolu and Ersanli, together with
the other activists who have been arrested on false charges.

In light of the professional background of both BuÅ~_ra Ersanlı and
Ragip Zarakolu, the EMHRN further urges the Turkish authorities to
implement international standards related to the right to freedom of
association and to freedom of expression in Turkey without delay.

JAN FISCHER: EBRD READY TO ASSIST ARMENIA IN PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
November 4, 2011 – 13:51 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan met with the
Vice-President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(EBRD) Jan Fischer.

At the meeting, the PM stressed the need for stimulation of crediting
tools for medium & small businesses, characterizing healthcare,
pension provision, finance and insurance as prospective sectors for
Armenia-EBRD cooperation.

EBRD vice President, in turn, stressed the importance of programs for
assistance to medium and small businesses and development of private
sector in Armenia.

Mr. Fischer praised the efforts of Armenian government aimed at
improvement of business environment expressing readiness to further
assist Armenia in the issue, governmental press service reported.

DORMANT POWER REVIVAL

Nov 5th 2011

Tests mount up for Turkey’s newly assertive foreign policy

..ON A clear day in 2006 Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister,
took a leisurely drive along the Turkish-Syrian border with Syria’s
president, Bashar Assad, at the wheel. Ahmet Davutoglu, then Mr
Erdogan’s foreign-policy adviser, cheerfully translated from the
back seat. With 700km (450 miles) of shared border, Syria is central
to Mr Davutoglu’s “zero problems with neighbours” policy. Syria, it
was hoped, might make a transition from authoritarian dictatorship
to Turkish-style democracy in which secularism, piety and the free
market happily co-exist. Turkish experts were sent to Damascus to
plot this bright future, just as Turkey was trying to mend fences
between Syria and Israel.

.

Nowadays, Mr Erdogan and Mr Davutoglu hint at military intervention
against Mr Assad if he doesn’t stop murdering his own people. The
same goes for Israel if it doesn’t stop drilling for gas with the
Greek-Cypriots in the east Mediterranean. Friendship with Iran has
soured after Turkey agreed to let NATO deploy parts of its missile
shield on Turkish soil. Membership talks with the European Union are
in effect frozen. So is a set of protocols Turkey signed with Armenia
last year to establish diplomatic relations and reopen the border. And
the Turks are carrying out air strikes against separatist Kurdish
PKK rebels based in northern Iraq, complicating relations with America.

Turkey remains busy in many different areas-including in its old
Balkan stamping-ground (see article) and, this week, hosting a summit
with Pakistan and Afghanistan. Yet Soli Ozel, a political scientist,
concludes that “the zero [problems with] neighbours policy has come
unstuck.”

This state of affairs is not entirely of Turkey’s making. Like the
rest of the world, it was caught unprepared by the Arab spring. To his
credit, Mr Erdogan was the first Muslim leader to tell Egypt’s Hosni
Mubarak to step down. After initially rejecting NATO intervention in
Libya, Turkey backed its operations. And after months of patiently
pressing Mr Assad for reform, Turkey opened its doors to the Syrian
opposition.

The meltdown with Israel came after it attacked Gaza in December 2008
(just as Turkey was about to cement a deal between Israel and Syria).

The final blow came when Israeli commandos raided a Turkish-led
aid convoy bound for Gaza last year, killing nine civilians. Turkey
kicked out Israel’s ambassador, and still rules out reconciliation
unless Israel apologises for the deaths and pays compensation to the
victims’ families. Mr Erdogan has escalated his anti-Israeli rhetoric,
insisting that Israel lift its blockade on Gaza. Such talk has boosted
his popularity on the Arab street and among pious Turks. Some of Mr
Erdogan’s advisers say America is secretly pleased because, as one
says, “only pro-Western moderate Muslim Turkey can burnish America’s
battered image, not Israel.”

This is naive. Not only does the breach with Israel put America in an
awkward position (especially close to the next presidential election);
but also it reduces Turkish influence. This is particularly apparent
in Syria. It was Turkey’s military alliance with Israel that helped
to prompt an intimidated Syria to kick out the PKK’s leader, Abdullah
Ocalan, in 1998. Nowadays the Syrians are unfazed by the presence of
Colonel Riad al-Asaad, a Syrian army defector in the southern border
province of Hatay. Waving a cell phone, Colonel Asaad excitedly claims
that he is running an armed insurgency from a camp in Turkey and
that the regime’s overthrow is nigh. His claims seem hardly credible
since Turkey is neither arming nor training his men. Yet they might
not ring so hollow had Turkey maintained its military ties with Israel.

And the bloodshed in Syria continues. NATO says it will not intervene.

A war-weary America is not about to wade into what might be an even
stickier conflict than the one in Iraq. Pressure is building on Turkey
to take the lead. Talk of a buffer zone along the Turkish border is
growing louder. Yet Turkey has enough trouble coping with the PKK, let
alone getting embroiled in regime change. Syria is said to have resumed
support for the Kurdish rebels, who kill Turkish soldiers almost daily.

America has agreed to give Turkey three Cobra attack helicopters to
be used against the PKK, but the sale may run into congressional
opposition because of the enmity between Turkey and Israel. One
might expect American lawmakers also to worry about the arrests of
activists, including this week a veteran human-rights defender and
a law professor. Turkey’s Human Rights Association is investigating
claims that the army has used chemical weapons against the PKK. These
are probably overblown, but the refusal to hand over the bodies of
19 rebels killed in a recent clash in the south-eastern province of
Hakkari has not helped. Luckily for Mr Erdogan, America has rarely
made much fuss about Turkey’s human rights.

Festival of Japanese films to be held in Gyumri and Yerevan

arminfo
Saturday, November 5, 18:48

A Japanese Film Festival will be held in Yerevan and Gyumri November
8-12. It has been organized by the Embassy of Japan in Armenia and the
“Hikari” Armenian-Japanese scientific, educational and cultural center
with the support of the Armenian Ministry of culture.

As press-service of the “Hikari” center reported, five full-length
feature films will be presented at the festival. The solemn opening
ceremony will take place at Moskva Cinema on November 8. The last
festival of Japanese films was held in Armenia in 2006.

Armenia to face Germany in European Chess Championships third round

November 5, 2011 – 15:44 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – In the third round of European Chess Championships
Armenia will face Germany. Armenian chess players take 9th place with
4,5 points, Germany comes 6th with 5.5 points.

Board pairings in the third round are as follows: Elina Danielyan-
Elisabeth Paehtz, Lilit Mkrtchian- Marta Michna, Maria Kursova-
Melanie Ohme, Nelly Aginian- Sarah Hoolt.

November 4, 2011
Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
H.E. Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate
6252 Honolulu Avenue
La Crescenta, CA 91214
Tel: (818) 248-7737
Fax: (818) 248-7745
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

EPISCOPAL DIVINE LITURGY AND ORDINATIONS ON THE 48TH ANNIVERSARY OF HOLY
MARTYRS CHURCH IN ENCINO

On Sunday, November 6th, 2011, the 48th anniversary of Holy Martyrs
Church in Encino will be celebrated with Episcopal Divine Liturgy,
ordination of acolytes, and the blessing of madagh.
H.E. Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate, will celebrate
Divine Liturgy and deliver the sermon.
During the service, the Prelate will ordain as acolytes the
following individuals: Hagop Demirjian, Manuel Bayramian, Haig Ohanessian,
Sarkis Najarian, Adiss Bablanian, Gary Markarian, Avedis Patatian, Nareg
Khatchadourian, Vrej Bayramian, and Gary Berberian.
Following the service, the Prelate will be led in a procession to
“Avedissian” Hall where he will conduct the blessing of madagh, prepared by
the parish Ladies Auxiliary.

PRELATE TO PRESIDE OVER OPENING OF “ARSHAVIR SHIRAGIAN” GOMIDEH NEW CENTER

On the afternoon of Sunday, November 6th, the Prelate will preside
over the official opening ceremony of the new “Arshavir Shiragian” Gomideh
center located in Chatsworth.

CENTRAL EXECUTIVE CHAIR DR. BEDROS KARAJERJIAN VISITS THE PRELACY

On Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011, Catholicosate Central Executive
Chair Dr. Bedros Karajerjian visited the Prelacy where he met with H.E.
Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate. Dr. Karajerjian was accompanied
by his brother, architect Mr. Kevork Karajerjian, who is a long-time
supporter of our community and specifically the Catholicosate of Cilicia.
Prelacy Executive Council Vice-Chair Mr. George Chorbajian participated in
the meeting as well.
The discussion centered on the endeavors and collaborative efforts
between the Catholicosate of Cilicia and the Prelacy, as well as the recent
Pontifical Visit of His Holiness Catholicos Aram I to the Western United
States. Dr. Karajerjian expressed satisfaction at the work being carried
out at the Prelacy, and wished the Prelate and Prelacy success in future
endeavors.
Given that it was Dr. Karajerjian’s first visit to the Prelacy, the
Prelate familiarized him with the various departments during a tour of the
headquarters.
The Prelate presented mementos to both Dr. and Mr. Karajerjian at
the conclusion of the visit.

Open Music Society Foundation
Contact person:
Alina Koutnouyan
[email protected]

PRESS RELEASE

Open Music Society Foundation launched in Los Angeles

Projects include an international music festival,
artistic exchanges, youth-mentorship programs

Los Angeles, November 4, 2011 – The Open Music Society Foundation
(OMSF), a multifaceted arts organization dedicated to fostering
musical excellence, was established in Los Angeles this month.

Following two years of preparation, the foundation was launched with a
`strong community-engagement approach to the creation and performance
of classical, jazz, folk, and world music in an entirely novel
context,’ said artistic director and conductor Aram Gharabekian, one
of the founders of the OMSF.

`The goal is not only to involve local communities in terms of
training talented youths, commissioning new works, and presenting
public performances, but engaging larger, global, communities of
artists and audiences, through collaborative projects that will lead
to groundbreaking concerts and multidisciplinary arts events,’
Gharabekian explained.

Forthcoming performances planned by the foundation include an
international, multi-day music festival which will take place at a
major venue in Los Angeles, sometime in 2012.

While classical music is at the heart of the OMSF, its founders have
stated their commitment to promoting a diversity of musical genres,
including various fusions. According to an OMSF representative, much
of the impetus for creating

the foundation came from Open Music Fest, an international music
festival that debuted in Yerevan, Armenia, in 2009. A critical and
popular success, the two-month long, 23-concert festival quickly
distinguished itself by a series of bold classical renditions as well

as a number of genre-bending concerts. Conceived and led by
Gharabekian, the festival also stood out by featuring numerous
international guest artists who collaborated closely on the event’s
programming and performances.

An OMSF source said that Open Music Fest paved the way for the launch
of an international foundation dedicated to nurturing musical
stewardship and innovation on a genuinely global scale.

`What we witnessed throughout Open Music Fest, among performers and
audiences alike, was an unfettered enthusiasm for pushing the
envelope, for opening up classical and modern music to the most daring
of possibilities,’ Gharabekian recalled. `It is no accident that we
decided to weave the name of our new endeavor around the term `open
music.’ It is a key principal in everything we’re trying to
accomplish.’

OMSF projects include the commissioning of new compositions; musical
mentorship and instruction for youths; a new installment of Open Music
Fest; collaborative projects comprising music, theater, and dance; and
concerts across the world.

For more information about OMSF programs and upcoming events, please
visit openmusicsociety.org.

# # #

PRESS RELEASE
Armenian Center for National and International Studies
75 Yerznkian Street
Yerevan 0033, Armenia
Tel: (+374 – 10) 52.87.80 or 27.48.18
Fax: (+374 – 10) 52.48.46
Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
Website:

November 04, 2011

ACNIS Considers Twentieth Century Experience of Democratization

Yerevan–The Armenian Center for National and International Studies
(ACNIS) today held a regular session of the youth school program on
`The Twentieth Century Experience of Democratization.’ During the
meeting a documentary film entitled `Force More Powerful’ was shown
followed by ACNIS analyst Edgar Vardanian’s presentation.

This lecture came to be the first in November agenda of free
seminar-courses initiated by ACNIS. The program with umbrella topic
`Establishment of Civil Society and Formation of Constitutional State
in Armenia: Key Issues and New Challenges’ is made of twelve seminars,
and will end on December 2.

———————————————————————

The Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS) is
a leading independent strategic research center located in Yerevan,
Armenia. As an independent, objective institution committed to
conducting professional policy research and analysis, ACNIS strives to
raise the level of public debate and seeks to broaden public
engagement in the public policy process, as well as fostering greater
and more inclusive public knowledge. Founded in 1994, ACNIS is the
institutional initiative of Raffi K. Hovannisian, Armenia’s first
Minister of Foreign Affairs. Over the past fifteen years, ACNIS has
acquired a prominent reputation as a primary source of professional
independent research and analysis covering a wide range of national
and international policy issues.

For further information on the Center call (37410) 52-87-80 or
27-48-18; fax (37410) 52-48-46; email [email protected] or [email protected];
or visit