Author: nina hovnanian

SERZH SARGSYAN: OFFICIAL YEREVAN IS SERIOUSLY CONSIDERING ISSUE OF RECALLING ARMENIAN-TURKISH PROTOCOLS FROM PARLIAMENT

APA, Azerbaijan
Sept 25 2014

[ 25 September 2014 13:20 ]

Baku – APA. “Official Yerevan is seriously considering the issue
of recalling the Armenian-Turkish Protocols from the parliament”,
President Serzh Sargsyan stated in his speech at the 69th session of
the UN General Assembly, APA reports quoting Armenian media.

“Armenia has never conditioned the normalization of the bilateral
relations with Turkey by recognition of the “Armenian Genocide”. In
fact, Armenia was the party that initiated such a process which
culminated in the signing of the Zurich Protocols. However, those
Protocols have been shelved for years now awaiting ratification
in the Turkish Parliament. Ankara declares publicly that it will
ratify those Protocols only if Armenians cede Nagorno-Karabakh to
Azerbaijan. In Armenia and Karabakh ordinary people often just retort
to such preconditions: “To hell with your ratification.” It is in
these circumstances that currently the official Yerevan is seriously
considering the issue of recalling the Armenian-Turkish Protocols
from the parliament,” President Sargsyan stated”, Sargsyan said.

ISIL DESTROYS LANDMARK ARMENIAN CHURCH IN SYRIA

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Sept 24 2014

ISTANBUL

Militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have
destroyed an Armenian church in an eastern Syrian city, which was
dedicated as a memorial to the 1915 mass killings of Ottoman Armenians.

The sixth-largest city in Syria, Deir ez-Zor, has a Kurdish majority
and was recently invaded by ISIL militants.

Deir ez-Zor, then an Ottoman-controlled desert town, was one of the
destinations in the 1915 deportations of Ottoman Armenians. During
a historic visit to Yerevan last year, Turkish Prime Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu declared the deportations to have been “wrong” and
“inhumane.”

After killing hundreds of members of the Deir ez-Zor tribal clans last
month, ISIL destroyed the landmark church, according to local media.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian has issued a statement
condemning the desecration of the church, calling it a “horrible
barbarity.”

Nalbandian also called on the international community to cut the
sources of supply, support, and financing to ISIL and eradicate what
he referred to as “a disease that threatens civilized mankind.”

September/24/2014

SURIK KHACHATRYAN- GOVERNOR

11:51 | September 25,2014 | Politics

Today Surik Khachatryan is going to be reappointed Syunik Governor
with the decision of the RA Government.

This issue is included in the Government session agenda.

GRANT THORNTON: ‘DOING BUSINESS IN ARMENIA’ MOBILE APPLICATION IS NOW AVAILABLE

11:09 25/09/2014 >> SOCIETY

Grant Thornton Armenia is pleased to announce that “Doing Business
in Armenia” mobile application is available for a free download from
the Apple App Store for all iOS devices.

“Doing Business in Armenia” app is designed to provide potential
businessmen with information, key facts, figures and highlights, to
guide them through the factors that are essential to consider while
making an investment decision.

This dynamic tool contains an overview of political and economic facts,
legislation extracts, useful information related to import, export,
transportation and other areas relevant for starting a business in
Armenia. Updated regularly, the app will alert users, when legislation
amendments and other significant changes occur.

Gagik Gyulbudaghyan, Managing Partner of Grant Thornton Armenia,
comments: “We all understand that foreign investments are significant
contribution to Armenian economy, so we have developed an application
that will allow foreign investors to gain general information about
Armenia, its economic situation and other focal points that could be
helpful in implementation of projects in Armenia.”

Through the app Grant Thornton is also happy to share a selection of
key local, regional and global publications, which would be interesting
read for any business driven mind.

“We are very excited to launch this mobile app, which is part of our
ongoing commitment to be involved in economic development of Armenia,
hence helping businesses’ growth. Whether you are exploring new markets
for expanding your business, or have already made up your mind about
investing in Armenia, you have reached your destination!” added
Gagik Gyulbudaghyan.

HAYKAKAN ZHAMANAK: WILL ARMENIA RECOGNIZE KOSOVO’S INDEPENDENCE?

12:04 25/09/2014 >> DAILY PRESS

An unexpected topic has emerged on the agenda of U.S.-Armenia
relations. The United States is trying to persuade Armenia to recognize
the independence of Kosovo, Haykakan Zhamanak writes.

“If that happens, Armenia will be the first non-Baltic ex-Soviet
republic to recognize the independence of Kosovo. According to
our information, Armenia is interested in it. Armenian diplomats
have told the Americans that if Kosovo recognizes the independence
of Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia will recognize Kosovo. That country’s
recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh is very unlikely given the fact that
Kosovo is a Muslim country. This is a very delicate issue, with regard
to Armenian-Russian relations. Russia does not recognize Kosovo,
but formerly it tried to persuade Armenia to recognize Abkhazia and
South Ossetia,” says the newspaper.

Source: Panorama.am

Armenian Hikers Association – LA
Contact: Robert Assarian
200 North Brand Boulevard #B3 & #C3
Glendale, CA 91203
Tel: 818/434-5952

PRESS RELEASE
July 16, 2014

100 Kilometer Tribute Set for Thanksgiving Weekend

Glendale, CA – The Armenian Hikers Association Los Angeles Chapter,
Armenian Hiking Society, and Armenian Cycling Association are
organizing a 100 Kilometer (62.14 miles) Tribute walk and ride on the
occasion of the Armenian Genocide centennial.

The four-day walk through the Angeles National Forest and Los Angeles
basin will honor the memory of the 1.5 million martyrs by humbly
replicating a small aspect of their ordeal, long distances walked.
Participants may walk the entire distance individually or as a team.
Cyclists will ride on the sunday of Thanksgiving weekend.

Walkers and riders will gather sponsors and the funds raised will be
used to support Genocide related projects, soon to be announced.

Robert Assarian, lead AHA organizer and originator of the project
thinks, `We’re going to remember the 100 years of denial and
dispossession by walking 100 kilometers. This will be a tribute to
our perseverance and help lay a foundation for our future. Through
our efforts, we will raise funds to work on remedying the massive
injustice committed against our forefathers and our nation.’

Anyone interested in participating or following developments about the
Tribute is encouraged to check on Facebook
( ).
The organizers may be contacted as well: Armenian Hikers Association
at [email protected] or on Facebook
(!/groups/521538567895715/);
Armenian Hiking Society
();
Armenian Cycling Association at [email protected]; or call
818/434-5952.

NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT MULLED IN NEW YORK

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Sept 24 2014

24 September 2014, 12:04 (GMT+05:00)

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijan’s foreign minister and U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group
discussed the ways of settling Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict.

Elmar Mammadyarov met with co-chair James Warlick on September 23
on the sidelines of the 69th session of the UN General Assembly,
the Azerbaijani foreign ministry reported.

Mammadyarov leads the Azerbaijani delegation visiting New York to
take part in the UN General Assembly session.

The minister reiterated Azerbaijan’s position on settlement of
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He stressed that first and foremost,
Armenian armed forces must be withdrawn from the occupied territories
of Azerbaijan for the resolution of the conflict.

Prior to the meeting with the Azerbaijani side, Warlick wrote on his
Twitter page that Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers will meet
with the Minsk Group co-chairs to mull Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which
emerged in 1988 over Armenia’s territorial claims against Azerbaijan.

Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced over one million
Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent
of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territory, including
Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.

The UN Security Council’s four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal
have not been enforced to this day.

Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. through the OSCE
Minsk Group, are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed
by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles. The
negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.

ARGENTINE BILLIONAIRE EURNEKIAN SEES MARKET RETURN NEAR ELECTION

Business Week / Bloomberg
Sept 24 2014

By Katia Porzecanski and Erik Schatzker

Billionaire Eduardo Eurnekian said he’s waiting for Argentine assets
to regain investor favor in the run-up to 2015 elections before taking
several units of his holding company public.

Eurnekian’s Corporacion America, which controls interests in airports,
energy, construction, nanotechnology and wines, is in talks with banks
to plan a share sale once values recover, he said. The record $25
billion initial public offering from China’s Alibaba Group Holding
Ltd. (BABA:US) last week isn’t enough to convince the businessman
that now is the right time.

“Argentina is different,” Eurnekian, 81, said yesterday in a
television interview at Bloomberg’s New York headquarters. “The
country has enormous resources to be delivered, explored and a lot
of opportunities, and today values are very low.”

Video: Argentine Billionaire: Soros May Help Nation Exit Default

Corporacion America is paving the way to sell shares in global markets
by opening a representative office in New York, he said. Argentine
companies are hamstrung because valuations are too low for IPOs while
interest rates are too high to sell debt after the nation defaulted
for the second time in 13 years two months ago, he said.

President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has 15 months left in office
after she and her late husband and predecessor Nestor Kirchner ran
the country since 2003. Argentina’s legal dispute with investors
from its 2001 default, which is preventing the nation from making
payments on its overseas bonds, is deepening a recession and spurring
speculation that the debt crisis will have to be resolved by the
next administration.

Presidential Candidates

The three leading candidates to replace Fernandez are in a statistical
tie, according to the latest poll from Management & Fit. Buenos Aires
Province Governor Daniel Scioli, Buenos Aires City Mayor Mauricio
Macri and lawmaker Sergio Massa are all prepared to lead the country,
Eurnekian said.

“There isn’t much difference between the candidates,” he said. “They
play with the rules of democracy.”

Presidential elections will be held Oct. 25, 2015 and the new
government would take office in December of next year.

A group of investors in Argentina’s defaulted bonds from 2001, led by
Elliott Management Corp., won an order for full repayment whenever the
nation makes interest payments on securities issued in 2005 and 2010
debt restructurings. Fernandez has refused to comply with the ruling,
saying that doing so would trigger new claims of $120 billion from
other bondholders.

Soros Talks

Argentine bonds have plunged 12 percent since the nation was blocked
from making a $539 million interest payment on July 30, pushing yields
to 9.6 percent on average.

Eurnekian is interested in helping resolve the dispute and has held
talks with banks and investors to find a private solution. Still,
he’s not in a position to lead a resolution, he said.

“I am a positive instrument to do something,” he said. “There are
many businesspeople interested in doing something, but somebody —
and not me — has to lead them.”

Billionaire George Soros, who also met with Fernandez in New York on
Sept. 22, may be well positioned to help broker a deal, Eurnekian said.

Soros discussed a “range of topics” with Fernandez including the
prospects for the economy and energy sector, his spokesman said in
an e-mail. Soros more than doubled his stake (YPF:US) in state-run
Argentine energy producer YPF SA (YPF:US) in the second quarter to
become the fourth largest private shareholder. He’s also the biggest
shareholder (AGRO:US) of South American agricultural company Adecoagro
SA (AGRO:US), according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“He has the financial resources, he has the knowledge,” Eurnekian
said. “If it is in his hand to do something, I think he will.”

Video: Blackstone’s James Sees Slow Europe Growth for 3-5 Years

Eurnekian, whose Armenian immigrant parents owned a textile business,
introduced cable television to Argentina through Cablevision SA and
founded networks including America TV. Today, Corporacion America is
the world’s largest private airport operator by number of licenses,
with more than 50, and about $2 billion in annual sales.

CHRISTIANS ARE SUFFERING AND DYING FOR CHRIST. WE MUST STAND WITNESS.

Patheos
Sept 24 2014

September 24, 2014 by Rebecca Hamilton

The first genocide of the 20th Century, the “forgotten genocide,”
was the genocide of Armenian Christians.

We must not “forget” again.

Nobody knows.

Nobody sees.

Nobody knows but me.

That is the lament of victims of discrimination and violence throughout
time.

They are trapped in the unimaginable alone experienced by people who
fall into the hands of human monsters. It is impossible to describe
the depth of terror, horror, pain and absolute total and complete
isolation that is part of the shock of being helpless in the hands
of satan’s disciples on this earth.

The survivors can’t tell of it, not really. Because if they try,
there are no words. Because if they try, they find that they are
speaking to blank walls of incomprehension and denial.

The rest of us don’t want to hear these stories because they remind
us of our own deep helplessness. People who have never looked into
the pitiless eyes of satan in another person’s face and known that
they were his to do with as he chose, do not want to consider that the
only thing separating them from a similar fate is geography or chance.

There is nothing special about American Christians that we have not
been subjected to the violence that attacks other Christians around
the world. We are not more faithful. We are not more holy. Quite
the opposite. The difference between them and us is a matter of
government. It is not innate in ourselves. The tightening noose of
social discrimination that Christians face here either is a harbinger
of worse to come or not, and that, whether we want to accept it or not,
does depend on us.

We can chose to fight back and not go there. We can boycott the
products of media outlets that defame us. We can speak out about our
faith and defend ourselves.

They can’t.

Christians who live in places where killing Christians is always
a question and not an anathema, live their lives under a genocidal
Sword of Damocles.

We can not turn our backs on them and their stories of great suffering
because it upsets us to be reminded that satan walks the earth in
human form. We must not avoid them for fear that satan will come
at us through the rage we feel over their suffering, that standing
witness for them can open a doorway to satan in our own hearts.

People are suffering and dying for Christ, and it is our vocation in
these times to stand witness.

Christians in the Middle East and in much of Africa are suffering
their own Shoah. They are being annihilated and driven from their
homes. They are being kidnapped, raped and sold into slavery.

The satanic barbarity of ISIS, Boko Haram, the Islamic Brotherhood
and al-Qaeda are a testament to what giving your heart to satan and
following him can turn people into. These men who do these things
are fallen, fallen, fallen. They are satan’s disciples.

They are fallen, but the Christians they murder are lifted up. They
are martyrs to Our Lord in the same way that Christians have been
martyred for Jesus throughout our history. They are His saints. Every
Christian that ISIS and Boko Haram murders goes to heaven. And each
one of their murderers — unless they face the horrible reality of
what they have done and repent from the heart — is destined for
the flames of eternal hell. They will burn there alongside Hitler,
Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Stalin, Osama bin Laden and all their followers.

No matter how they lie to themselves, these things they do are not
of God. They are from the pit.

Our job, dear brothers and sisters, is to stand witness to our fallen
brothers and sisters in Christ. We must tell their stories. We must
lift them and their sacrifice up because they are being lifted up in
the exact way that Our Lord was and for the same reason, so that the
world can see them and be healed by turning to Him.

We need healing desperately in this world, and that healing we need
can only come from one place: The Cross.

When we witness the violent persecution of Christians, we are seeing
a re-enactment of Calvary in our world right in front of our eyes,
today. Every Christian who suffers and dies at the hands of these
satanic human monsters is Christ crucified again in real time in
front of our eyes.

Can you wait with me one hour? Jesus asked Peter, James and John.

Will you run away from me again? He asks us. Will you shout crucify
Him! as they did? Or, will you just walk away and hide your faces
because bearing witness hurts too much?

We must stand witness to these our brothers and sisters in Christ who
are suffering and dying for Him. We must. It is our charge, our call
and duty. It is our vocation before God.

We must write about them and develop a literature for them as the
Jews did for those who died in the Holocaust. Because this is another
holocaust. It is the holocaust of Christians in an entire region of
the world.

Satan’s lessor disciples; the ones who make fun of Christian
persecution and who try to bully into silence those of us who must
bear witness, are our small cross. Their carping bits of nastiness
should be meaningless to us. Offer whatever pangs you feel for those
who have died and pray for those who do this, then keep on keeping
on bearing witness to the truth of this martyrdom of a whole people
for their faith in Christ.

It is painful and exhausting to stand witness to atrocity. But we
must do it, and we must do it in the Lord.

Any lessor action would be running away from Him all over again.

PROTEST IN STEPANAKERT: RESIDENTS IN KARABAKH CAPITAL TO MARCH AGAINST RISE IN PUBLIC TRANSPORT FARE

SOCIETY | 24.09.14 | 10:58

NAZIK ARMENAKYAN
ArmeniaNow

By SARA KHOJOYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

A protest march against the upcoming rise in public transport fares
is expected to be held in the Nagorno-Karabakh capital of Stepanakert
on Wednesday. Many local residents believe that the rise from 70 to
100 drams ($0.17-$0.25) per ride planned from October 1 is ungrounded.

Observers say that civil society in Karabakh is not as active as
in Armenia yet and that there are few problems that people in the
country living in a de-facto state of war are willing to complain about
publicly. Today, however, public discontent seems to be particularly
strong with the decision of the municipal authorities. The protest
march is expected to start in front of the Stepanakert city hall and
proceed along the streets of the capital.

Citizens have even organized themselves into a pressure group called
“I’m Against the Rise In Public Transport Fares in Stepanakert”,
calling on their countrymen to stand up for their rights and interests.

Stepanakert resident Knar Babayan says like many others she is also
against the planned rise in bus fares.

“I think it is only right to stage this protest. Let them [authorities]
know that not everyone can afford to pay 100 drams per ride.”

“As an excuse the companies mention the rise in prices for diesel
fuel and other products. But let’s not forget that only part of our
citizens saw their salaries increase recently, while others have
to continue to live off their same meager salaries in conditions
of growing inflation. Many of my friends and I myself were not
beneficiaries of the latest rise in salaries,” the woman complains.

Babayan says that no public transport discounts are given to students,
disabled people, war veterans. Besides, interurban transport fares
have already been raised in the past few years because of the rise
in diesel fuel prices. Thus, while it would cost a commuter 600 drams
before to travel from Stepanakert to Martuni, now the bus fare is 800
drams. But, according to the woman, nothing has changed in terms of
the quality of the service.

Stepanakert city authorities announced the planned rise in the tariff
still in late August. According to the press service of the Stepanakert
Municipality, Mayor Suren Grigoryan said during a working meeting
then that they had received applications from the Stepanakert-Service
and Mher companies requesting a rise in the fare rate. The operators
explained that they have worked at the same rate for 7 years and that
they can no longer work at a profit in conditions of the current rate.

Invoking the increase in the prices of fuel and spare parts, one
of the companies requested setting the new rate at 112 drams, while
the other called for a 120-dram fare. Stepanakert’s mayor, however,
after discussions, settled for a price of 100 drams (about 25 cents),
at the same time calling on transport service providing companies to
be sensible and scrupulously fulfill all their contractual obligations.

“The streets should always be in good conditions and people should
really feel on a daily basis the improving quality of service, that
is, why the change in the fare has happened,” Grigoryan emphasized,
according to the municipality’s website.

After the statement of the municipality, the local National Revival
party studied the situation, conducting meetings at transportation
companies, at the municipality and the Artsakh investment fund,
as well as a survey among 288 residents.

“The claims that the routes operated by Stepanakert-Service are
unprofitable raise doubts, especially given the fact that the daily
fares expected to be collected by drivers at both Stepanakert-Service
CJSC and Mher LTD are the same,” the party wrote on its website after
completing the studies. It stressed that “the rise in public transport
fares in Stepanakert will cause additional social tensions in society.”

The survey conducted by the National Revival party, at the same time,
showed that in the NKR those who enjoyed the increase in incomes in the
last six months are mainly civil and public servants, while incomes of
a majority of private sector workers have not risen. “An overwhelming
majority of residents who receive salaries of up to 45,000 drams
(about $112) are involved in the private sector,” the report says.

It adds, “To the question on whether they would participate in the
protest against the rise in the public transport fare if such a protest
was organized, 54 percent of respondents answered in the affirmative,
26 percent were against protests, while 20 percent found it difficult
to provide an answer.”