Author: nina hovnanian

ARMENIE
Les Daschnaks prêts à soutenir la réforme constitutionnelle

Soulignant ses différences avec les autres principaux partis
d’opposition, la Fédération révolutionnaire arménienne (FRA) a
réaffirmé jeudi sa volonté, en principe, d’approuver les modifications
constitutionnelles radicales envisagées par le Président Serge
Sarkissian.

Pourtant, Artsvik Minassian, membre de la FRA, a souligné que
l’approbation est subordonnée à l’acceptation d’un certain nombre de
propositions concrètes que le parti soumettra le mois prochain à une
commission présidentielle de travail sur la réforme constitutionnelle.

préliminaire de la réforme. La plupart de ses membres semblent plaider
en faveur de la transformation de l’Arménie en une république
parlementaire avec un puissant premier ministre.

samedi 13 septembre 2014,
Stéphane (c)armenews.com

LUTTE
L’Arménien Arsèn Djoulfalakian (75 kg) champion du monde de lutte gréco-romaine

L’Arménien Arsèn Djoulfalakian (75 kg) est champion du monde de lute
gréco-romaine. Lors des championnats du monde qui se déroulent à
Tachkent (Ouzbékistan), Arsène Djoulfalakian a remporté la médaille
d’or en s’imposant ce vendredi 12 septembre en finale, face au Croate
Neven Zugaj par 4-0. Arsèn Djoulfalakian gagne ainsi son premier titre
de champion du monde après un titre de vice-champion et trois
médailles de bronze. Lors de son premier combat (1/16e) l’Arménien
avait expédié l’Azéri Elvin Moursaliev par un 9-0. Puis il avait battu
l’Autrichien Florian Marchl par 12-1 ! En quart de finale il s’était
imposé face au Mexicain Juan Escobar (11-2) et en demi-finale Arsèn
Djoulfalakian avait également gagné son combat face au Géorgien
Zourabi Datunashvili (1-0). A deux ans des Jeux Olympiques de Rio,
Arsèn Djoulfalakian reste l’une des plus sérieuses chances de médaille
olympique pour l’Arménie…sur les traces de son père Lévon
Djoulfalakian, champion olympique de lutte à Séoul (1988) pour le
compte de l’URSS.

Krikor Amirzayan

samedi 13 septembre 2014,
Krikor Amirzayan (c)armenews.com

PRESS RELEASE
Tekeyan London

Ani Batikian Violin Concert in celebration of the great composer Aram
Khachaturian’s 111th Anniversary, St John’s Smith Square, London

6th September 2014
——–

On Saturday 6th September 2014, the famous concert venue of St John’s Smith
Square in London opened its Autumn Season of music with a concert by the
brilliant Armenian violinist Ani Batikian, accompanied by the
internationally-acclaimed British pianist Benjamin Frith to an audience of
nearly 300 members of the public, VIPs and dignitaries.

The programme of music included a varied and challenging repertoire of
much-loved works arranged for the violin and piano, including pieces by the
great Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian such as the “Sabre Dance” from
the ballet `Gayaneh’ arranged by Heifetz and the “Adagio and Bacchanal”
from the ballet “Spartacus” arranged by Baich, a fitting celebration of the
composer’s 111th anniversary. The programme also included works by Debussy,
Brahms, Saint-Saens, Chopin and Baghdasarian. The last piece performed was
written by the composer Roland Roberts, Ani Batikian’s husband, who has
transformed the Armenian National Anthem “Our Motherland” into a
composition in the nineteenth-century virtuoso style of Paganini for the
violin and piano. The entire programme was designed to display the
remarkable range of skills and abilities Ani has on the violin.

The special surprise of the evening was the announcement that the violin
Ani was playing on was a Stradivarius borrowed from Sotheby’s, one that had
been locked away for nearly 70 years and which used to belong to Alfonso
Marconi, the brother of none other than the great scientist Guglielmo
Marconi, the inventor of the radio. A few days earlier, Ani and Roland had
also been invited to the well-known and respected BBC Radio 3 programme “In
Tune,” to play a selection of violin and piano pieces in anticipation of
the concert.

Ani has received numerous awards and prizes and has also been broadcast on
BBC Scotland Radio. She has performed as a soloist in Canada, Switzerland,
France, Italy, Sweden, Armenia and the UK. She has played concerts at such
recognised venues as Edinburgh’s Usher Hall, Oxford’s Sheldonian Theatre,
the Glenn Gould Studios in Toronto and St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London.
Recently she recorded a CD, entitled “My Favourite Encores.” The concert
violinist Pierre Amoyal has observed that, “Ani controls the violin with a
very strong technique, possesses a very beautiful tone and expresses her
music with a very good sense of style and personal sensitivity.”

The Tekeyan Cultural Association (TCA) of London sponsored and promoted the
event in association with the Armenian Embassy to the UK. The TCA is an
organisation which helps bridge the communities of the Armenian Diaspora
with one another and with the Republic of Armenia, to introduce and promote
the very best of Armenian Arts, Music and Culture to a wider audience.

THE PARADOX OF THE CROSS

Hays Daily News, KS
Sept 12 2014

9/12/2014

Coca-Cola, Nike and Apple have famous logos. But none of them is
known as universally as the cross. The cross instantly is recognized
the world over as the symbol of Christianity, as well as its central
message.

This Sunday, many Christians will celebrate a special feast to honor
the cross. Good Friday is dedicated to the crucifixion of Christ, but
Sept. 14 celebrates the cross itself as the instrument of salvation.

Some protestants observe this Sunday as Holy Cross Day, others as the
Feast of the Glorious Cross. The Roman Catholic liturgy celebrates the
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and the Greek Orthodox refer
to this feast as the Raising aloft of the Precious and Life-Giving
Cross.

This ancient feast has its roots in the reported discovery of the
True Cross in Jerusalem by St. Helena, mother of Constantine. It also
is related to the dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher,
which was built on the site of her discovery. Her discovery and that
church have braided histories with rich traditions and more than a
little controversy.

On a pilgrimage to the Holy Land (c. 325), the empress St. Helena
claimed she had found the True Cross near Mount Calvary. Constantine
then built a church, the Calvarium, on that site. Next to it, he
built another church, the Anastasis (the Resurrection), over the
place of the empty grave of Jesus. Both churches were dedicated
Sept. 14, 335 A.D. These churches were destroyed by the Persians in
614, rebuilt in 626 and again destroyed by the Muslims in 1009. The
present double-domed church includes both the site of Calvary and
the tomb of Christ. It was built by the Crusaders in 1149 and named
the church of the Holy Sepulcher, although the Greek Orthodox still
refer to it as the church of the Resurrection.

Many consider this the primary church of Christianity since it is
built over the most sacred spot on earth for Christians, the place
of the death and resurrection of Christ. The ownership and care of
the church is designated by a complex and often contested agreement
between the Eastern Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic and Roman Catholic
churches, as well as the Coptic, Ethiopian and Syriac Orthodox. Such
a diverse group of Christians is a challenge for ecumenism.

Pilgrims to the Holy Land often are dismayed by the jurisdictional
disputes about sacred sites, especially within the church of the Holy
Sepulcher. Although the lack of harmony might be disedifying, these
historic tensions are evidence those sites truly are held sacred, if
by imperfect Christians. Yet there is a certain irony in the manifest
need for redemption on the site that is the source of redemption.

This Sunday’s feast to honor the Cross of Christ celebrates the
paradox that an instrument of death has become a promise of life,
even life eternal. The history of the church built to honor the site
of the cross unwittingly reveals our need for the redemption promised
by that cross as we all struggle to find peace in our own lives.

Father Earl Meyer is a Capuchin Franciscan priest at the Capuchin
Center

for Spiritual Life at Victoria

REAL STORY OF THE LADY OF THE CAMELLIAS

Igor Muradyan, Political Analyst
Comments – 12 September 2014, 23:39

Usually Russian grand dames come to the Kremlin from the street.

European politician ladies have a great experience in political
activities, they have passed a long way and formed their political
position in the result of many years of participation in parties
and groups.

Angela Merkel comes from young communists but all through her tenure
as chancellor she has been trying to withdraw Germany from under the
UK and U.S. influence (in this very order). And she has achieved a
lot in this aspect.

German interests in Eastern Europe are significant for the country’s
foreign policy but apparently this dimension is also closely linked
to anti-Anglo-Saxon goals. Germany understands that it can be
easily blocked, and over the past 25 years it has been trying to act
cautiously, without enabling its opponents in the West to make claims
and accusations of lack of solidarity with NATO and the EU.

Quite recently Germany has refused participation in the military
actions in the Near East and Africa, thereby highlighting its strong
position. Hence, voluntary “self-constraint” is observed in all the
possible directions.

Thanks to the Ukrainian crisis Germany held a key place in European
politics, significantly ousting the United Kingdom. Ukraine’s
metallurgic industry has been significantly damaged, which is in line
with Germany’s interests whose metallurgic industry has no competitors
now, at least in Europe.

Presently, not only Turkey but also Germany has become an important
factor of crisis processes in NATO which the alliance is trying to
overcome. In fact, the interests of the United States and Germany
are technically and technologically in line. This is a convincing
international isolation of Russia and its subjection to certain
interests.

Currently, there is nothing more comprehensible in the European policy
than Germany’s efforts to monopolize the “Eastern project”, i.e.

Eastern Europe which must become part, a major part of the German
geo-economic empire which is transforming over time into a geopolitical
empire.

At all the historical stages cooperation with Germany helped Russia
overcome the international isolation but, one way or another, Russia
had to face hostility and war with Germany in an alliance with the
Anglo-Saxon and Roman powers.

Germany is trying to prevent extreme adversity within NATO framework
and logic, and like Turkey, avoid hostility and confrontation with
the United States, thereby protecting its role in Europe and NATO.

With Turkey’s support Germany did not allow more radical decisions
at NATO Wales Summit, first of all that on the establishment of full
military bases of NATO in Eastern Europe and supply of arms to the
countries of this region. Germany announces that it does not support
supply of arms to fighting countries, which means, in the case of
Ukraine and Armenia, maintaining and strengthening their dependence
on Russia in different logical formats.

Denying supply of arms to Armenia means turning it into Russia’s
vassal – such a big European country does understand this and is
responsible for such open support to Russian expansion.

In fact, disorganization of NATO regional policy is underway, and the
alliance is hit at its programs of cooperation with new partners. No
matter how the German policy is interpreted, it is the key disorganizer
of the Atlantic policy, taking France’s place which gave up on this
goal a long time ago.

There is hardly any agreement between Germany and Turkey to sabotage
NATO but it has become known that one way or another two countries
have found their interests are in line at this point. There are too
many controversies between them to expect closer relations but at
this stage identity of interests of such big NATO member states does
influence the policy and position of the alliance.

The German political elite knows how to develop a policy for a decade,
and the post-war period demonstrated that the German politicians
are able to revise fundamentally not only the foreign policy but
also foreign partners. One draws interesting conclusions on how
unexpectedly the Christian Democratic Party emerged at the end of
the 40s and functioned successfully and how the Germans were able to
restore their industries and later on destroy the Berlin wall without
any dramatic events and launch a new foreign policy.

At the same time, the global security system is typically automatic.

First Germany’s distance from protection of interests of Europe will,
one way or another, lead to a situation when the United States, the
United Kingdom and other countries will be able to act with greater
freedom, including in terms of providing military and technical
support to the countries of Eastern Europe.

First, a distance is a distance, and even the most influential state
may appear in political isolation.

One should take into account that Eastern Europe is not only Russia but
also other states. For example, the visits of delegations of German
political parties to Ukraine have convinced Ukrainian politicians
that in the nearest future they should deal with other great powers,
including in economy.

Last but not least, the third circumstance – France may use this
arrangement of forces in Europe and demonstrate to Germany its
“historical solitude”. Germany cannot remain passive in Eastern Europe,
especially regarding defense issues.

Armenia was satisfied with the visit of the German military delegation
and achievement of several agreements in the military sphere. However,
will this bring a lot to the defense of Armenia and how will this
become a factor of weakening dependence on Russia?

There are legends which were referred to in the novels of great
European writers but there are also real stories of prototypes of
these heroes. Sometimes real stories are more romantic and mysterious
than the novels. The real story of the Lady of the Camellias needs
to be found out.

BASQUE PARLIAMENT’S MOTION SUPPORTING NAGORNO-KARABAKH’S SELF-DETERMINATION EVIDENCE OF NEW TENDENCIES – OPINIONS

22:07 * 12.09.14

The adoption of the motion supporting the self-determination of
Nagorno-Karabakh by the Basque Parliament in a sense means that
Basque Country recognizes the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR),
Nagorno-Karabakh Presidential Spokesman David Babayan told Tert.am.

“We have repeatedly stated our intention to expand the geography
of recognition by establishing bilateral relations. We have common
features with the Basques – both psychological and political. And
some of them say their forefathers emigrated from the Armenian
highland. In any case, this motion adopted by the Basque Parliament
is a significant achievement in two aspects: the Artsakh Armenians
get recognition and it is a foreign policy success,” he said.

Mr Babayan stressed that different nations have their interests and
it is necessary to make their interests converge and developments
progress in the interests of Armenians.

Asked about the significance of the motion adopted by the Basque
Parliament, Mr Babayan said:

“Of course, it is highly significant, but it is not like ‘general
tendency, as we are following it.’ This is the result of our unity –
Armenia, Artsakh and the Armenian Diaspora – as well as of Artsakh
being a normal state. Otherwise, no one would recognize a terrorist
state. This is evidence we are following the right course. We will
continue our work for other parliaments to recognize [Nagorno-Karabakh]
as well. We think this is a promising platform where we have to work.”

Talking to Tert.am member of the Standing Committee on Foreign
Relations Tevan Poghosyan called for realizing the growing appreciation
of the principle of nations’ self-determination throughout the world.

“Since people realize their self-determination is more important than
any borders, especially artificially drawn borders. And we can see
now that all the nations struggling for self-determination are trying
to understand one another better and speak of this right,” he said.

“Let us remember the ongoing processes in Europe. A few months ago
a referendum was held in Venice, Italy. The Basque Country is aiming
at this – they will try to hold a referendum. This process is under
way in Catalonia as well, in Scotland. In Kosovo it took place. In
the past decade, a number of states were recognized: Timor, Eritrea,
the problem of South Sudan. Montenegro’s ‘divorce’ was very easy,”
Mr Poghosyan said.

In this context he said that the international community should
gradually be made to listen to the idea of the recognition of
Nagorno-Karabakh’s right to self-determination.

“Armenia’s foreign policy and Ministry of Foreign Affairs are capable
of doing this work because both California and the Basque Country have
recognized [Nagorno-Karabakh’s self-determination] in the past month.

I hope this work will be continued and the recognition process as
well,” Mr Poghosyan said.

He is optimistic and hopes that Nagorno-Karabakh will sooner or later
be internationally recognized.

With respect to Armenian political scientists’ statements on the
world’s double standards as the mediators keep on stating the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict cannot be settled in this “unique” way,
Mr Poghosyan said that such statements were made after the events in
both Timor and Eritrea.

“One thing is to say something, but life has shown that the realization
of the right to self-determination, when people are masters of their
own fate, is gaining strength throughout the world.

And since 1988, Azerbaijan’s ‘argument’ that Armenians once exercised
their right by creating the Republic of Armenia has not been supported
by the international community, considering the realization of the
fact that the territories were artificially made part of Azerbaijan
and have nothing to do with its territorial integrity.”

ABOUT 40% OF ARMENIANS CONSIDER MILITARY SITUATION THEIR COUNTRY’S OVERRIDING PROBLEM

YEREVAN, September 12. / ARKA /. About 40% of Armenians believe that
their country’s most overriding problem is the military situation,
according to the findings of a recent public opinion survey conducted
by Gallup International Association.

According to the survey, 35 percent of respondents said the second
most pressing problem was unemployment and 33 percent said it was out-
emigration. Other major problems of the nation are inflation (20%),
the poor economic situation (18%), poverty (17%) job losses (17%),
low salaries (10%) and the Karabakh conflict (9%).

According to the survey, the citizens were also concerned at corruption
(8%), the poor performance of government (7%), low level of pensions
(6%) and the unstable political situation (5%).

Despite these numbers, the survey also found that almost half of the
population was satisfied with their life, although only one percent
of respondents described their families well-being as ‘very well,”,
14 percent said it was “good”, 52 percent described it as “medium,”
22 percent as “bad” and 11 percent as ‘very bad.” .

Asked whether their material well-being will improve or worsen, 30%
said it will not change, 21% expressed hope for its improvement,
17% feared it would worsen, 16% believe it will worsen, 13% were
undecided, and only 2% said that the welfare of their families would
improve dramatically.

The survey conducted August 8-17 in all the regions of Armenia and
administrative districts of Yerevan, involved 1,067 men and women of
all ages. -0–

NEW YORK TIMES BETRAYS ITS OWN INVESTIGATION AND GETS IT WRONG ON KARABAKH

Thursday, September 11th, 2014

Screengrab from the New York Times

BY ARA KHACHATOURIAN

A mere two days after publishing an expansive and informative expose
about foreign powers buying influence with US-based think tanks to
affect US policy, The New York Times published a sloppy article by
long-time Azerbaijani collaborator, Brenda Shaffer, who by using
official Baku’s vernacular sounds the alarm for supposed plans by
Russia to engineer another “land grab” in the region–this time in
Nagorno-Karabakh.

In The New York Times article, “Foreign Powers Buy Influence at Think
Tanks,” correspondents Eric Lipton, Brooke Williams and Nicholas
Confessore diligently combed over hundreds of pages of documents to
detail how foreign–among them Azerbaijani-monies to think thanks
are adversely impacting academic research and are influencing US
foreign policy.

It seems the Times frowns upon foreign powers influencing US policy,
but its editorial board does not mind publishing pieces by known
lobbyists who use their years of entrenched advocacy for foreign
governments to advocate issues that official governments cannot and
influence public opinion.

That’s exactly what Shaffer does in her piece, “Russia’s Next Land
Grab” to convince the Russia-weary readers of the Times to beware of
a supposed land grab that will adversely impact Baku’s interests.

Prof. Brenda Shaffer

Shaffer, who has been described by the Azerbaijani press as a
“well-known Azeri government lobbyist,” last year vocally defended
Aliyev’s re-election, which was panned by most observers including
the State Department. Throughout her career as an “academic,” Shaffer
has been a fixture at Azerbaijan-centric conferences and symposiums,
always advocating on behalf of the Baku government and its oil riches.

The New York Times described Brenda Shaffer as “a professor of
political science at the University of Haifa and a visiting researcher
at Georgetown.” What the paper neglects to say is that Shaffer is also
a visiting professor at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy and has
spent almost two decades lobbying for Baku by presenting testimony
to Congress and speaking and international conference organized by
some of the think thanks that were at the center of the New York
Times investigation.

The premises she presents to convince readers that Russia’s “land grab”
of Karabakh is imminent, are assertions that Russia’s interests in
Armenia make Karabakh the natural choice for such a move, claiming,
with substantial evidence, that Russia masterminded the Oct. 27,
1999 attack on the Armenian Parliament.

She also claims that the meeting between Armenian and Azerbaijani
presidents in Sochi was a plan devised to move a military mission
to Nagorno-Karabakh, a fact that was not reported by either party to
the meeting. In fact, if such was the case, the US and France would
not have welcomed Putin’s efforts to broker peace. It turned out that
Putin’s meeting with Armenia’s Serzh Sarkisian and Azerbaijan’s Ilham
Aliyev did not differ much from a meeting held last week between the
presidents and Secretary of State John Kerry in Newport, Wales on
the sidelines of the NATO summit.

By publishing the Shaffer piece The New York Times deflects the
real reasons hampering a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict–Azerbaijan’s continued threats of war, violation of the cease
fire and inciting anti-Armenian hatred–and blames the villain du jour,
Russian President Vladimir Putin for the unrest in the Caucasus.

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT TO BUILD WALL ON BORDER WITH AZERBAIJAN

Trend, Azerbaijan
Sept 11 2014

11 September 2014, 18:45 (GMT+05:00)

The Armenian government has allocated funds for the construction of
a protective wall at the border with Azerbaijan.

The wall will be built in the Armenian village of Chinari in the
Tavush region, Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of Territorial
Administration Armen Gevorgyan said at a government meeting Sept. 11,
news.am. website reported.

“The wall will be built on certain sections of the border,” he said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan.

As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied
20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and
seven surrounding districts.

The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs
of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the U.S. are currently
holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four U.N. Security Council resolutions
on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.

MULTILINGUAL POLICE FOR MULTIETHNIC TURKEY

Daily Sabah, Turkey
Sept 11 2014

Mehmet Ali Berber

ISTANBUL — Turkey’s Police Academy, where the future police officers
of the country undergo training, will teach recruits Kurdish,
Armenian, Arabic and other languages commonly spoken in many parts
of the country.

Restructuring its curriculum, the academy will offer selective courses
on the abovementioned languages as well as in Greek, Russian, Farsi,
Georgian and Turkic languages.

Through the new courses, Turkish police aim to improve its
communication with minorities in the country as well as immigrants,
particularly displaced Syrians and Iraqis taking shelter in Turkey.

The Turkish National Police Academy educates and trains middle ranking
and high-ranking police officers.

Apart from language courses, the police training process will undergo
a major overhaul which will see a shorter training and implementation
of a series of changes to bring them in compliance with standards of
police training in EU countries.