Author: nina hovnanian

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

His Holiness Aram I visits the Embassy of Armenia in Greece

His Holiness Aram I visited the Embassy of Armenia in Athens and met
with Ambassador, Gaguik Ghaladijian. The Catholicos was accompanied
by Archbishop Khoren Toghtamadjian, Prelate of Greece, V. Rev. Housig
Mardirossian, the Ecumenical Officer, Mr. Ara Mangoyan, President of
the Church Council and priest Sempad Saboudjian, the staff bearer.

The Catholicos thanked the Ambassador for his warm welcome, and they
discussed current relations between Armenia and Greece, the 100th
anniversary commemorations and specific issues related to the Armenian
community in Greece.

# #

Ukraine: Farewell to Arms

(c) óollage by RIA Novosti
12:00 27/09/2014
Julia Lyubova

Both sides in Ukraine conflict signed a much-awaited treaty aimed at
ending hostilities, which claimed thousands of lives and put the
war-torn eastern regions on the brink of humanitarian catastrophe.
Twelve-point memorandum, banning military action in Ukraine came as
result of grueling negotiations held in Minsk and brokered by Russia
and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Studio guest Victor Mizin, Deputy Director of the Institute of
Strategic Assessment,Vyaceslav Pazdnyak, head of “Wider Europe”
Project, Minsk, Belarus, Andrei Sushentsov, managing partner with
Moscow-based “Foreign Policy Analysis Group”, and Dr. Anastasia
Nesvetailova, Reader in International Politics at City University
London, shared their opinions with Radio VR.

Download mp3

Victor Mizin: I do not share the optimism. It is a good thing that a
ceasefire is now installed but the positions of the two sides are so
widely apart. Kiev is, of course, for a united Ukraine and the people
in Donbas want something like independence, if not joining Russia. So,
what we will see there? Hopefully, not the resumption of fighting, but
many experts predict that it will be something like another frozen
conflict, probably on the model of Transnistria or Nagorno-Karabakh.

If we can predict anything, do you think this moment of calm is sustainable?

Victor Mizin: I hope so, because the Ukrainian army just has no
equipment and no weapons to continue fighting. And I think it was the
major reason for Kiev to come to the ceasefire. But with the planned
elections in the entire Ukraine, which those separatist regions do not
want to take part in, there would be more and more disengagement and
the crisis would only be exacerbated. So, I’m on a more pessimist side
here.

Are all the points of the 12-point plan being followed?

Vyaceslav Pazdnyak: My impression is that the plan is being followed.
The most important thing is that there is a ceasefire. As for the
implementation, I think it is going to take a lot of time and effort
to follow through, and press every point to its ultimate completion.
Some experts are using the term “Minsk peace process”. What do you
make out of that phenomenon and where will it bring the Ukrainian
conflict?

Vyaceslav Pazdnyak: First of all, it is rather arguable that we are
facing the so-called Minsk process. The Ukrainian crisis is a very
strange phenomenon and it cannot be framed into some sort of a
classical concept of a crisis or a conflict. Minsk has been the place
for consultations. Now, as the consultations proceed further on, we
can label it as a process, but, normally, we are discussing conflict
settlement processes when we have not consultations, but full-fledged
mechanisms of the negotiations.

So far, Minsk only potentially is a process of a conflict settlement
as such. We have kind of a preparation for a possible process and, in
that sense, Minsk is a fairly successful beginning. What will the
future bring is again a disputable question. We have too many factors
to consider and one would be in a difficult position to predict the
outcome.

Petro Poroshenko mentioned that there’s been no fighting for the first
time. Is this a sign of a long-lasting peace and a good development in
order to lift the sanctions?

Dr. Anastasia Nesvetailova: There are two sides to this, as usual.
Sanctions in the world economy have historically proven to be a little
bit sticky. So, whilst they are more or less straightforward to get
introduced, it does take some time to get rid of them completely. It
will be a relief if some of them do get removed for various
international business contracts, but it will not be one-size package
being lifted from Russia.

On the other hand there certainly are forces within the EU, and they
are quite powerful forces, who would like to see this happen. But it
is a matter of international negotiation and there are a lot of
variables in this conflict that are, unfortunately, unpredictable or
not entirely calculable. And the ceasefire or the lasting peace really
depends on people on the ground, and so far they have proven not to be
entirely controllable.

Poroshenko was speaking about the Ukrainian EU integration, but at the
same time it seems that it would be quite a bumpy road.

Dr. Anastasia Nesvetailova: There are political aspirations and plans,
but there are businesses and finances and debts on the ground. The
Ukrainian economy is largely destroyed. I’ve just recently revised the
8-priority plan that the Ukrainian President has identified for the
country. And he is talking about a complete reform of the state. So,
it is a very long-term ambition and no organization, including the EU,
would like to have a failing state in its orbit.

Andrei Sushentsov: It is actually not clear what is the overall
strategy that Kiev currently has towards the rebels’ controlled
territories. Kiev has already said that it wants to maintain a unitary
character of the Ukrainian state and doesn’t want to make any
sacrifices. Right now it seems that Kiev wants to postpone the overall
settlement of this conflict for at least several years, when it either
would have enough resources to unilaterally conclude this conflict
militarily, or some events or a situation will come that would favour
the Kiev position more.

STONE AGE SITE CHALLENGES ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT EARLY TECHNOLOGY

UConn Today , CT
Sept 26 2014

by Tim Miller

Analysis of artifacts from a newly excavated site in Armenia shows
that human technological innovation occurred intermittently throughout
the Old World, rather than spreading from a single point of origin,
as previously thought.

The study, co-authored by UConn archaeology professor Daniel Adler
and more than a dozen scientists from universities worldwide, was
recently published in the journal Science. Adler and his colleagues
examined thousands of stone artifacts retrieved from Nor Geghi 1, a
site on the outskirts of Yerevan, the Armenian capital. The artifacts
were found in sediments between two ancient layers of lava that could
be accurately dated to a period between 325,000 and 350,000 years ago.

The collection comprises stone tools made using two distinct
technologies, an older method called bifacial technology, and a
more advanced method known as Levallois technology. Archaeologists
previously believed that Levallois technology was invented in Africa
and spread to Eurasia with expanding human populations, replacing
local biface technologies. The co-existence of the two technologies at
Nor Geghi 1 provides the first clear evidence that local populations
developed Levallois technology on their own.

“The combination of these different technologies in one place
suggests to us that, about 325,000 years ago, people at the site were
innovative,” says Adler. Moreover, the chemical analysis of several
hundred obsidian artifacts shows that humans at the site utilized
obsidian outcrops from as far away as 75 miles, suggesting they must
also have been capable of exploiting large, environmentally diverse
territories.

The paper argues that biface and Levallois technology, while distinct
in many regards, share a common pedigree. In biface technology, a mass
of stone is shaped through the removal of flakes from two surfaces
in order to produce a tool such as a hand axe. The flakes detached
during the manufacture of a biface are treated as waste. In Levallois
technology, a mass of stone is shaped through the removal of flakes in
order to produce a convex surface from which flakes of predetermined
size and shape are detached. The predetermined flakes produced through
Levallois technology are the desired products. Archaeologists suggest
that Levallois technology is optimal in terms of raw material use and
that the predetermined flakes are relatively small and easy to carry.

These were important issues for the highly mobile hunter-gatherers
of the time.

It is the novel combination of the shaping and flaking systems that
distinguishes Levallois from other technologies, and highlights its
evolutionary relationship to biface technology. Based on comparisons
of archaeological data from sites in Africa, the Middle East, and
Europe, the study also demonstrates that this evolution was gradual
and intermittent, and that it occurred independently within different
human populations who shared a common technological ancestry, says
Adler. In other words Levallois technology evolved out of pre-existing
biface technology in different places at different times.

This conclusion challenges the view held by some archaeologists
that technological change resulted from population expansion during
this period.

“If I were to take all the artifacts from the site and show them to
an archaeologist, they would immediately begin to categorize them
into chronologically distinct groups,” Adler says. The artifacts
found at Nor Geghi 1, however, reflect the technological flexibility
and variability of a single population during a period of profound
human behavioral and biological change. These results highlight the
antiquity of the human capacity for innovation.

The excavation at Nor Geghi 1, just outside the Armenian capital of
Yerevan, was performed with the help of a number of UConn students,
including undergraduates taking part in UConn’s Education Abroad
Field School program.

Major support for the work came from UConn’s Norian Armenian Programs
Committee, which was established in 2004 to enhance the longstanding
collaboration between UConn and Armenia’s Yerevan State University.

“The successes of the archaeological field school underscore the
importance of high-quality science collaborations with our strategic
global partners,” says Daniel Weiner, vice provost for global affairs,
who co-chairs the committee.

Additional funding came from the U.K. Natural Environment Research
Council; the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation; the Irish Research Council;
and the University of Winchester, U.K.

INSTAGRAM PLAYBOY DAN BILZERIAN ADMITS POLICE ARREST WAS A HOAX

International Business Times Australia
Sept 26 2014

By Justin Noel Cudaihl | September 26, 2014 2:59 PM EST

An initial post on photo/video sharing site Instagram showed
Dan Bilzerian being handcuffed by a couple of police officers on
Wednesday. Apparently, the act was all but scripted as the “internet
playboy” followed it up with another post contradicting the first post.

“It was a fun ride while it lasted, I might be going away for a
while,” Bilzerian posted initially as we was being arrested by the
police officers.

“Come on you boys didn’t think I’d let those bastards arrest me did
you… #CantKeepAGoodManDownFollow,” Bilzerian then posted to allay
fears that the arrest was true.

Bilzerian is famous for his exploits on social media posting images
and videos normal for a millionaire playboy.

The 33-year-old venture capitalist , actor, high-stakes poker player,
ex-military man and celebrity once admitted that he had sex with
16 women in a dozen days just among the many highly controversia
revelations he made in the past.

Of American and Armenian descent, Bilzerian also almost always share
his extravagant exploits in his Instagram account that has become
so popular with his followers. Of this writing, Bilzerian has 619
Instagram posts which attracted a grand total of 4,746,510 followers.

According to his imdb.com profile, the 5-foot-9 Bilzerian has four
film credited to his name as an actor with roles in “Lone Survivor”
(2013), The Other Woman (2014), Cat Run 2 (2014) and The Equalizer
(2014). He was also credit as a stunt man in the movie, “Olympus Has
Fallen” (2013).

Bilzerian also plays poker at the nosebleed level although no public
records can be found if he is a winning or losing player at the
high-stakes level. His most prestigious achievement in poker was when
he cashed at the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event.

Watch Bilzerian’s arrest and then the hoax revelation via his Instgram
account.

Bilzerian’s latest Instagram posts initially shocked his followers
and fans– at least those who were gullible enough to believe that
he was indeed arrested. But as with anything-Bilzerian, it’s another
wild prank only a millionaire playboy can pull-off.

LES PARTIS D’OPPOSITION APPELLENT A UNE REVOLUTION DE >

POLITIQUE

Les trois principaux partis d’opposition ont annonce jeudi le lancement
> contre le gouvernement armeniens alors
que commencait une campagne de manifestations a l’echelle nationale
a Abovian, une ville situee a 15 kilomètres au nord d’Erevan.

Le Parti Armenie prospère (BHK), le Congrès national armenien (HAK)
et le Zharangutyun (patrimoine), ont rallie environ 2.000 partisans
dans le cadre de leurs preparatifs pour une grande manifestation qui
aura lieu a Erevan le 10 octobre.

>, a-t-il dit.

Le porte-parole du BHK ont egalement appele de manière explicite a
un changement de regime rapide, soulignant la position plus prudente
de leur parti. Ils ne sont pas livres a une critique aussi radicale,
l’ancien ministre des Affaires etrangères Vartan Oskanian deplorant ce
qu’il a appele un > politique et economique dans le pays.

“Aujourd’hui, tout est decide depuis un meme centre et les consequences
negatives en sont evidentes”, a declare Oskanian

Oskanian a precise que les trois partis sont a la recherche de >, plutôt que de la demission du Premier ministre
Hovik Abrahamian et de son cabinet. “Il ne fait plus sens pour nous
d’exiger la demission du gouvernement parce que nous savons que le
problème cle, c’est le système”, a-t-il dit.

Malgre la declaration de Zurabian, il reste difficile de savoir si
la manifestation du 10 octobre marquera le debut de manifestations
non-stop anti-gouvernementales dans la capitale. Le trio de
l’opposition espère recueillir une forte participation a cette
manifestation grâce a une serie de petites reunions dans diverses
regions armeniennes qui continueront jusqu’au 8 octobre.

Abovian, point de depart de la campagne, est un bastion du chef du
BHK Gagik Tsarukian, dont le parti contrôle le deuxième plus grand
groupe parlementaire et a beaucoup plus de ressources financières que
ses allies de l’opposition. Le maire de la ville, Karapet Guloyan,
est marie a une des filles de Tsarukian. Guloyan a personnellement
supervise les preparatifs de la manifestation de jeudi, une raison
majeure pour laquelle elle a attire une foule relativement importante.

Tsarukian, Levon Ter-Petrossian et Raffi Hovannisian, les principaux
dirigeants du BHK, du HAK et de Zharangutyun, n’ont pas personnellement
participe a la manifestation Abovian.

vendredi 26 septembre 2014, Ara (c)armenews.com

ARMENIANS TO STAGE DEMONSTRATION OUTSIDE FRENCH PARLIAMENT

00:26, 26.09.2014

On October 7, the Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations in
France (CCAF) will hold a mass demonstration outside the country’s
National Assembly building.

They will protest the recent destruction of the Holy Martyrs Armenian
Church in Deir ez-Zor, Syria, by the Islamic State, reported the
French-Armenian Nouvelles d’Armenie magazine.

“By blowing up Deir ez-Zor’s Armenian monument, the only one in those
areas where the Armenian Genocide was carried out, the Jihadist forces
operating in Syria have crossed the last limit of criminal madness.

“We need to put an end to this dizzy spiral of crime and the
accompanying international hypocrisy,” the CCAF’s respective statement
specifically reads.

Armenia News – NEWS.am

ARMENIA BUILDS ITS FOREIGN POLICY BY JUXTAPOSING INTERESTS OF FORCES INVOLVED IN REGION, PRESIDENT SARGSYAN SAYS

YEREVAN, September 25. / ARKA /. Armenia has always built its foreign
policy based on juxtaposition of the interests of forces involved in
the region and different systems rather than on creating dividing
lines, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said when delivering a
lecture at the University of Columbia in New York, United States,
Sargsyan’s press office reported.

Sargsyan is in New York to attend the 69th session of the UN General
Assembly.

The president said Armenia and Russia are strategic partners, and the
Armenian-Russian treaty on mutual assistance, along with Armenia’s
membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization is one of
the pillars of Armenia’s security.

He added that parallel to this, through cooperation with NATO Armenia
is contributing to international security and stability, both within
its individual plan of action as well as through participation in
peacekeeping missions.

According to him, Armenia attaches great importance to the continuous
development of friendly partnership with the United States.

“Today we are negotiating simplification of visa regime. We appreciate
the assistance provided to Armenia by the United States. Forty-two
states have recognized the Armenian Genocide, and in recent
years a number of states have recognized also the independence of
Nagorno-Karabakh and its people’s right to live in freedom,” he said.

According to Sargsyan, the strong Armenian community in the United
States is a driving force in the development of the Armenian-American
relations. -0-

RALLY TIME: NON-GOVERNING ‘TROIKA’ IN PROVINCES DRUMMING UP SUPPORT FOR YEREVAN GATHERING

POLITICS | 26.09.14 | 10:58

By GAYANE MKRTCHYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

The ‘hot political autumn’ promised by the non-governing forces was
effectively launched from the town of Abovyan where three parliamentary
minority parties warned of the start of what they described as a
‘velvet revolution’ without bloodshed and shocks, which they intend
to carry out with the help of peaceful and confident pressure of
the people.

Holding the rally in the town’s central square Thursday evening
representatives of the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP), the Armenian
National Congress (ANC) and Heritage criticized the administration
of President Serzh Sargsyan for failures in his policies and, in
particular, for what they called the clear intention of the current
government to reproduce itself by way of making appropriate changes
in the Constitution.

PAP member Vardan Oskanyan mentioned that even state statistical
data shows that during seven years the current government was stuck
in the same spot.

“When you look into it, you see that foreign investments have decrease
annually by 60 percent, the foreign debt has grown, the population has
shrunk, which also gives grounds for concern. Judging from all this
we can surely say that the government is failing. The opposition has
known all this and the reasons, the reason is only one – political
monopoly when all power is vested in and everything is decided by
one force. Political monopoly leads to economic monopoly which has
its negative impact on people’s lives,” Oskanyan said.

He urged all citizens to use the opportunity offered by the opposition
to fight for bringing radical changes in the country, considering it
pointless to demand the government’s resignation because the problem
is in the system.

Deputy chairman of the Heritage party Armen Martirosyan said that
there are no disagreements in the trio and that all three parties
have set a goal of saving the country.

“The government shows that they don’t care for the public opinion,
for our freedom, for our desires. We have no other way out but radical
change of the ruling regime and system reform in Armenia. Every step
that the government takes shows that they will try to rob the people
till the last drop, to be able to rule forever. They will try to lead
our political field, the administrative system to the Brezhnev time’s
misery,” Martirosyan said.

ANC member Aram Manukyan said, “This government challenges our
country. It says, ‘I will do my best for you to get out of here:
I will increase the price for natural gas, electricity, and there
will be cheap buses to [the Russian city of] Krasnodar, to wherever
you want… And we either accept this challenge or we allow Serzh
[Sargsyan] with his in-laws to solve this problem. This is a historic
and crucial time… it is either this government, with a bunch
of cronies, with its businesses, its thieves and greedy appetite
exploiting the country, or our dignity that will prevail.”

The trio of non-governing forces urged everyone to gather in Yerevan’s
Liberty Square on October 10 to voice their will and demands.

Prosperous Armenia, Armenian National Congress and Heritage Parties
will be holding provincial rallies in eight cities of Armenia in
the run-up to their joint rally in Yerevan on October 10. The next
provincial trip is to be to Hrazdan on Friday.

The rally took place without the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(Dashnaktsutyun), which, unlike the other forces of what has been
known as “Quartet” supports the constitution reform proposed by the
current administration. Dashnaktsutyun is not taking part in the
current provincial campaign nor will its representatives attend the
Yerevan rally. The party’s further steps will become clear after the
concept of the constitutional reform is published later in October.

ZHOGHOVURD: ARF-D URGED PRESIDENT TO ADDRESS ARMENIA-TURKEY PROTOCOLS AT UNGA SESSION

09:41 * 26.09.14

President Serzh Sargsyan’s address at the UN General Assembly’s 69th
session, particularly his demand for recalling Armenia’s signature from
the 2009 bilateral protocols with Turkey, was reportedly dictated by
members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaksutyun (ARF-D).

Citing its sources, the paper says that the party had given the
president to understand that he was obliged to voice such a demand
in New York if he really wished to receive the ARF-D’s support in
what they claimed to be a tense political situation.

Armenian News – Tert.am

THE BANK IS NEAR YOU, NO MATTER WHEN AND WHERE

Thursday, September 25th, 2014

Ameriabank

Armenia’s Panorama.am news agency recently interviewed the head of
Ameriabank’s Contact Center, Lilit Hovhannisyan. The full interview
is below.

PANORAMA: What purpose did Ameriabank pursue when creating its Contact
Center, what does it include?

LILIT HOVHANNISYAN: Given present-day developments, financial markets
put forward new standards, and technological developments enable us
to make our services more convenient and accessible for clients. I
do believe that in the current competitive environment it is very
essential to follow international best practices and implement new
technologies in order to establish long-term partnerships with our
clients, and this process should be as sustainable and intense as
possible.

Today the client has a great deal of choice, and chooses the option
which is convenient, provides a comprehensive solution and offers
quick as well as affordable service.

Bearing in mind our aim of establishing long-term partnership with the
clients, Ameriabank constantly offers innovations ensuring convenient
and attractive terms for a top-of-the-line service.

A contact center is probably one of the most effective tools of
servicing present-day financial clients. If we look at the history
of development of the contact center concept, we will see that today
“contact center” means not just phone support, but availability through
all types of telecommunication means. In other words, by means of a
multi-functional contact center we spare our clients both distance
and time, becoming open and available with a whole range of services.

At present, Ameriabank’s Contact Center represents a system which
incoperates all means of communication with clients: phone, electronic
inquiries, web site, SMS, social networks, etc.

P.A.: What kind of technologies and innovations were implemented for
the creation of this Contact Center?

L.H.: Ameriabank’s Contact Center runs Avaya solutions, one of the
leaders on the international technological market specializing in
the analysis of competition. Creation of a multi-functional Contact
Center requires a very flexible program with all-around technology
solutions enabling us to perform incoming call segmentation, online
monitoring and control, as well as providing multiple possibilities
for mass communication. We selected Avaya software because it provides
the necessary comprehensive solutions for our contact center.

P.A.: What services does Ameriabank’s Contact Center currently provide?

L.H.: Telephone is no longer the only tool for providing mobile
support, that is why at present Ameriabank’s Contact Center also uses
other telecommunication means such as online chat, which enables the
client to directly submit his questions and get answers via the bank’s
web site; electronic inquiries and SMS, interactive voice response,
etc. Ameriabank’s Contact Center is proactive, which means that apart
from handling the clients’ inquiries, we are the one who initiates
communication with the clients, provides them with information
on various services of the bank while at the same time performing
virtual sales.

Non-cash transactions are growing daily making it a pressing challenge
to provide clients with maximum convenience when using card services
and quickly solve any problem which may arise during the card usage.

We offer our clients an unprecedented service on the Armenian financial
market – the fraud monitoring function of our Contact Center which
is 24/7 monitoring of all types of card transactions to identify and
prevent fraud as soon as possible. We are available for our clients
anytime and anywhere in the world.

P.A.: What competitive advantages does Ameriabank’s Contact Center
have as compared to other similar services available on the market
and what possibilities does it provide to its clients?

L.H.: First I would like to mention that contact centers are crucial
for the development of any business since their function is to provide
service availability 24/7, as well as time and cost savings. Given
the current competitive environment, a professional contact center
first of all ensures loyalty of our clients, availability and easy
access for our services anytime and anywhere in the world.

>From the operational efficiency point of view, it does not only result
in significant cost savings, but also serves as a unique infrastructure
to identify client needs on one-window basis and offering all-inclusive
solutions covering a wide range of financial tools and services.

Another important advantage of a contact center is resource
optimization which makes it possible to automate a great deal
of similar activities and functions, assuring highly specialized
servicing of clients, including sales options.

As I have already said, Ameriabank’s Contact Center is a 24/7 support
system, and this, I believe, is a highly competitive advantage,
especially given all possible card-related problems in different
countries and in different time zones. No matter where our client is
and what kind of card problem he or she has, they can call + 374 10
561111 anytime, and our specialists will always be there to help. I
think this is already a breakthrough; however, we still work hard
towards improving and further developing the capabilities of our
contact center.

P.A.: Are you ready to adjust the Contact Center’s services to clients’
demands? What developments should we expect in future?

L.H.: In fact, all services implemented by Contact Center are based on
clients’ requirements and needs. Our objective is to create a common
service system enabling each client to choose his or her preferred
way of service.

To make this possible we are currently working hard to implement mobile
banking services and plan to launch it in the near future. This service
will enable clients to execute any account transaction by means of
a single call to the bank. Moreover, clients will no longer need to
visit the bank to use its products, e.g. order a card, deposit, etc.

Now we strive to become a virtual branch to service each and every
client anytime and anywhere in the world. In other words, we lift
the restraints of both time and distance, meaning that the bank is
there for the convenience of the client. This, I believe, will be a
significant improvement in client servicing, when each client will
be able to state that his Bank is always at his hand.