Author: nina hovnanian

ARMENIANS DON’T LIKE TO SEEM HAPPY – EXPERT

December 19, 2013 | 13:52

YEREVAN. – Even though, according to an international survey, Armenia
is second from last in terms of unhappiness, we are not that unhappy.

Armenian sociologist Aharon Adibekyan said the abovementioned at a
press conference on Thursday.

In Adibekyan’s words, Armenians simply do not like to seem happier
and richer.

To the query as to why Armenians like to “cry,” Adibekyan responded:
“They fear being struck by the evil eye, that [other people] would
envy them, subsequently learn that there is something [precious] at
[their] home and come and steal [it]; this is a result of defensive
psychology. So, don’t believe in those [international survey] data;
we [i.e., the Armenians] are not that unhappy.”

Photo by Arsen Sargsyan/NEWS.am

WORLD POLITICS ENTERING A NEW ERA!

Yeni Safak (in Turkish) , Turkey
Dec 15 2013

by Cem Kucuk

In 1953 the United States ousted the then Iranian Prime Minister
Mohammad Mosaddegh in Operation Ajax and brought Reza Shah Pahlavi
to power. Iran, an oil giant, became the new ally, alongside Turkey,
of the United States. The Soviets were under a complete siege. Once
the Iranian oil resources became available again to the West, the
British share of the oil dropped and the United States managed to get
40 percent of the oil revenues. Companies such as Standard Oil Company,
Mobilgas, Chevron Supreme, Texaco, and Gulf set up businesses in Iran.

Following a change of fortunes in 1979, the United States lost its
grip on Iranian oil. In the eyes of Iran, the United States became the
“great Satan.” The United States declared Iran a “rogue state.”

Reconciliation between the two sides seemed difficult; yet politics
is capable of turning everything upside down, and recently it did. The
United States turned a new page and began to normalize relations with
Iran. This heralded a new era for world politics.

As far as the United States is concerned there is only one problem:
China. Asia Pacific is the new playing field. The United States is
highly critical of countries, especially of its allies, which go into
military collaboration with China. The United States is troubled by
China’s growing military spending and technological progress.

It caused the United States great concern when the bid for the
missile defense system for the TSK [Turkish Armed Forces] went to the
Chinese contractor CPCMIEC [China Precision Machinery Import-Export
Corporation]. The United States tried everything it could to stop this
from going ahead and [when this failed] the first reaction came from
the US financial institutions. Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BoAML),
the US investment and brokerage institution, announced that it would
not broker the secondary public sale of ASELSAN [Turkish Military
Electronics Industry]. For its reason for refusal, BoAML argued it
was likely that ASELSAN could be taking part in the long range missile
system project that was to be bought from the Chinese CPCMIEC company.

Right after this, the US Congress added an article to the 2014 Budget
to say that “the US funds cannot be utilized for the integration
into NATO of the missile system Turkey was planning to buy from
China.” The New York Times wrote that the deal would cost Turkey more
if it was to cover the total cost of the integration by itself and
that Ankara would not choose to do that. Foreign Policy magazine too
opined that it became impossible for Turkey to use the new Chinese
defense system in an integrated way with its allies if it was to go
ahead with the purchase.

There cannot be a better case that demonstrates so clearly the
relationship among the political, energy, financial, military, and
intelligence sectors of the US establishment. We will find out soon
what the Turkish policy will be in response to the stance taken by
the United States.

In the meantime, the United States seems to have reached a partial
deal with Russia; however, the game can obviously take a different
turn. The United States struck a power-sharing deal with Russia
regarding Syria and Egypt, and set a strategy aiming to sort out the
issues that northern Iraq and Iraqi central administration have with
the neighboring countries. The dialog process initiated with Iran
somewhat relaxed Iraq, too.

Russia has been maneuvering in this current state of world politics.

The issue between Azerbaijan and Armenia, in a deadlock for years
due to the approach of “no solution is a solution,” and the relations
between Turkey and Armenia are being reshaped anew. The great powers
that do not wish to see too many problems in the region are applying
all the tools of diplomacy to resolve any troublesome development
that crops up.

As we approach 2015, rapprochement in the Turkish-Armenian issue
seems inevitable. However, one should not ignore the current Ukrainian
issue. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has to get on well with
Russia, albeit reluctantly, because the country’s regional interests
call for it. On the other hand, the EU is trying to bring Ukraine
into the economic alliance.

In the words of Sevil Nuriyeva of the daily Star, “everyone is
waiting for Russia’s impact, whether they want it or not. Therefore
the attitude and the stance of the Ukrainian people will be a decisive
model for others as well; just as in the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Ukraine had played a crucial role in the disintegration of the Soviet
Union. It appears that Russia will not give up Ukraine; however,
it would be naive to expect the majority of the Ukrainians to take
sides with Russia.”

During this process and in the energy corridors, Turkey is one of the
decisive countries. With its great need for energy the EU is planning
once again to pull Turkey to its own side for this reason. The fact
that there is a timetable for lifting the EU visas for Turks is one
such step.

Aside from the arithmetic calculations mentioned above, there are two
issues left. One is the Israeli-Palestinian issue and the other is
the case of Cyprus. If the United States can sort out these issues,
then it will shift its presence even more toward Asia Pacific even
if it does not completely leave the Middle East.

[Translated from Turkish]

UNESCO ADOPTS DOCUMENT ON PROTECTION OF CULTURAL PROPERTY IN OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

Trend, Azerbaijan
Dec 19 2013

Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 19

Trend:

UNESCO has adopted a document on the protection of cultural property
in the occupied territories. The document was adopted at the eighth
session of the UNESCO Committee for the protection of cultural property
in the event of armed conflicts, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said
on Dec.19.

The initiative to discuss in the committee the issue of protection
of cultural property in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan was
made by Azerbaijan in 2012.

The document prepared by the Secretariat of the UNESCO committee
reflects the mechanisms and the aspects of application of the 1954
Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property.

The document also addresses the possibility of UNESCO technical
mission visiting the occupied territories in order to monitor the
state of cultural properties.

Despite the attempts of the Armenian side to prevent sending UNESCO
missions to the Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia, the
document was successfully adopted. A majority of committee members
supported the inclusion of items in the document that meet the
interests of Azerbaijan.

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

Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since
1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding
districts.

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

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

ARA GULER’S ANATOLIAN PHOTOS ON DISPLAY IN WASHINGTON GALLERY

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Dec 18 2013

18 December 2013 /Ä°STANBUL, TODAY’S ZAMAN

World-renowned Turkish photographer Ara Guler’s photos of historical
Anatolian monuments are currently the focus of an exhibition at
Washington’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.

On display until May 4, the show “In Focus: Ara Guler’s Anatolia”
contains a selection of never-before-displayed works focusing on
Seljuk, Armenian and Ottoman monuments remaining in Anatolia.

Featuring works from Guler’s extensive portfolio “In Focus,” the show
is curated by students from Johns Hopkins University’s Museums and
Society Program under the supervision of the head of Scholarly Programs
and Publications at the Freer and Sackler Galleries, which jointly
form the Smithsonian Institution’s national museums of Asian art.

The photos are also part of a collection donated to the galleries’
archives by Raymond Hare, a former US ambassador to Turkey, in 1989.

Some colleagues presented Ambassador Hare, who was interested in
the architecture of Anatolia, with the photographs on his departure
from Turkey.

A short video called “Ara Guler: A Lifetime Achievement,” prepared
by Germany’s FotoTV in 2010, is also included in the show, featuring
Guler’s own opinions about his art, career and photojournalism.

Guler took these photographs in the early 1960s and printed them
in 1965, according to the gallery’s website. In a press release,
the gallery said Guler’s ability to capture fleeting moments and his
fascination with storytelling are evident in the works on display,
including “Gök Medrese” (Sky Madrasah) — one of three madrasahs
built by the Anatolian Seljuks in Sivas in 1271. The photo shows a
child opening the doorway of the madrasah, allowing a glimpse of a
wider world beyond.

Guler worked as a photojournalist for local newspapers while studying
economics at Ä°stanbul University. The artist became head of Hayat
magazine’s photography department in 1955 and then started working for
international publications, including Time Life and Paris Match. In
Turkey, the 85-year-old artist is largely known for his depictions
of street life in the 1950s and 1960s, particularly in Ä°stanbul —
the cultural capital of the country.

For further information about the exhibition, visit

OIC TO FURTHER BACK BAKU’S POSITION ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Dec 18 2013

18 December 2013, 11:53 (GMT+04:00)

By Sara Rajabova

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has always supported and
will support the position of Azerbaijan on the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu made the remark during
his press conference held in Ankara before leaving his position as
the secretary general, Anadolu agency reported.

Ihsanoglu further said he always made an effort to resolve the
conflicts in Muslim countries.

He noted that the OIC has achieved significant progress in many areas
for nine years (during Turkey’s chairmanship). The chairmanship in
the OIC will pass to Saudi Arabia from January 2014.

Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally
recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent
regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus
neighbor that had caused a lengthy war in the early 1990s.

The OIC always kept the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in focus.

Its member states expressed concern over the occupation of
Azerbaijani territories by Armenian and looting and destruction
of the archeological, cultural and religious monuments in those
areas, including Islamic monuments in the resolution adopted by the
organization during the OIC summit in Dakar, Senegal in 2008.

Recently, the 40th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM)
of the OIC adopted a resolution recognizing the Khojaly massacre,
committed by the Armenian vandals in early, as genocide.

WILL RUSSIA PUNISH ARMENIA FOR RE-EXPORTS TO NAGORNO-KARABAKH?

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Dec 18 2013

18 December 2013 – 10:17am

The Armenian and Russian governments signed a deal on exports of
Russian gas, petroleum and unprocessed diamonds to Armenia yesterday.

According to the deal, no customs fees will be set for the exports.

The document also stipulates sanctions for re-export of the Russian
resources to other states. This provides some uncertainty regarding
the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Russia recognizes Nagorno-Karabakh as a territory of Azerbaijan.

Armenia continues occupation of a fifth of Azerbaijan’s territory
and maintains something like a common economic zone with it.

Alexander Markarov, Director of the Armenian branch of the Institute
for CIS States, emphasized that Armenia considers Nagorno-Karabakh
its own territory. Selling resources in Nagorno-Karabakh would not
mean re-export and would simply be distribution.

Vyacheslav Kovalenko, Director for Regional Programs of the
Institute for Caspian Cooperation, said that Nagorno-Karabakh was a
self-proclaimed independent republic, not a territory of Armenia.

Armenia has not recognized it, the expert explains. Kovalenko is unsure
how Russia will react to sales of its resources in Nagorno-Karabakh.

HUMAN RIGHTS COURT SAYS DENYING MASSACRE PART OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH

United Press International UPI
Dec 18 2013

Dec. 18, 2013 at 12:44 PM

STRASBOURG, France, Dec. 18 (UPI) — Prosecutions of people who deny
the Armenian massacre of 1915 are violations of the freedom of speech,
the European Court of Human Rights has ruled.

Rejecting a conviction in Switzerland, the court said “the right
to openly debate sensitive questions that are likely to displease
someone is a fundamental aspect of freedom of expression,” Radio
France Internationale reported Tuesday.

A Lausanne court in 2007 found Dogu Pernicek, leader of the nationalist
Turkish Workers Party, guilty of “denying the Armenian genocide for
racist motives.”

Pernicek did not deny in speeches that thousands of Armenians had been
killed, but said claims the Ottoman Empire had genocidal intentions
were “an international lie.”

Denying, belittling or justifying genocide is a violation of Swiss
law and the Lausanne court said the facts of the genocide were common
knowledge.

The ECHR said no consensus existed on the question of whether the
deaths of the Armenians constituted genocide. Drawing a comparison,
the court said there no doubt of the Nazis’ intent in killing millions
of Jews.

France will reportedly introduce to parliament in the next few months a
proposal banning denial of the Armenian genocide. A previous law passed
in 2011 was ruled unconstitutional by France’s Constitutional Council.

US PATENT ISSUED TO SYNOPSYS ON DEC. 17 FOR “PIN ROUTING IN STANDARD CELLS” (ARMENIAN, AMERICAN INVENTORS)

US Fed News
December 17, 2013 Tuesday 11:27 PM EST

ALEXANDRIA, Va.

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 17 — United States Patent no. 8,612,914, issued
on Dec. 17, was assigned to Synopsys Inc. (Mountain View, Calif.).

“Pin routing in standard cells” was invented by Deepak D. Sherlekar
(Cupertino, Calif.) and Vahe Hovsepyan (Yerevan, Armenia). According
to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office:
“Cells designed to accommodate metal routing tracks having a pitch
that is an odd multiple of a manufacturing grid. The cells includes
cell pins that are located within the cell based on the offsets of the
routing tracks relative to the cell boundaries. The cell pins are wider
than wires that are routed along the metal routing tracks. The standard
cell may be placed in a layout in either a normal orientation or in a
flipped orientation. In both orientations, the cell pins are aligned
with the wires that are routed along the metal routing tracks.” The
patent was filed on March 23, 2011, under Application No.

13/070,440. *For further information, including
images, charts and tables, please visit:

PRESS RELEASE
Hayastan All-Armenian Fund
Governmental Building 3, Yerevan, RA
Contact: Hasmik Grigoryan
Tel:? +(3741) 56 01 06? ext. 105
Fax: +(3741) 52 15 05
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

Yerevan, December 19, 2013
Surprise holiday gift to Bavra’s schoolchildren

– Christmas arrived early this year for the schoolchildren of Bavra, a
village in Armenia’s Shirak Region, as the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund made a
surprise gift to their school by providing it with new furniture and
computers. The gift was sponsored by the fund’s Argentinean affiliate,
through the financial support of benefactor Nshan Devejian of Argentina.

As the school welcomed the present during a jubilant community event,
principal Armen Vardanyan wished everyone a happy new year on behalf of the
teachers and students, and said, “We are extremely grateful for this
wonderful present, and promise our benefactors that on their next visit they
will be pleasantly surprised by our students’ knowledge and academic
progress.”

In turn, a representative of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund promised to
deliver a letter of gratitude from the school’s 74 students, as well as a
handicraft created by them, to Nshan Devejian.

Devejian has also sponsored the construction of a multipurpose community
center in Bavra, which has a population of about 650. Slated to open in the
spring of 2014, the state-of-the-art facility will feature an administrative
center, a clinic, a library, an events hall, and a computer room.

PRESS RELEASE

The Genocide Education Project
51 Commonwealth Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94118
(415) 264-4203
[email protected]

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Contact: Raffi Momjian – [email protected]

December 17, 2013

GENED TRAINS TEACHERS AT NATIONAL HISTORY CONFERENCE ON THE “PSYCHOLOGY
OF GENOCIDE”
Meets St. Louis & Illinois Area Armenian-American Community

St. Louis, MO – The Genocide Education Project presented a training
workshop for high school history teachers at the National Council for
the Social Studies annual conference in St. Louis, Missouri and
distributed Armenian Genocide teaching materials to hundreds of
educators during the conference events, November 22-24.

GenEd’s Education Director, Sara Cohan, led a conference workshop
entitled, “The Psychology of Genocide,” exploring the social forces and
personal psychology that can lead to extreme acts of cruelty, as well as
heroic acts of compassion during a genocide.

Approximately 50 social studies teachers participated in the workshop,
learning about the key psychological concepts that apply to the actions
of individuals leading to and during genocide. Examples from the
Armenian Genocide and other genocides were examined, and participants
received instructional materials they can use in their classrooms.

“It was gratifying to have such a strong turnout and positive response
from all the teachers we met,” said Cohan.

Cohan was joined by GenEd Board Member, Roxanne Makasdjian in the
conference exhibit hall, where they distributed Armenian Genocide
teaching materials to hundreds of educators visiting GenEd’s information
booth and displayed resources found at the organization’s “cyber”
teaching library, TeachGenocide.com.

“I think the teaching materials will really help me give my students a
better understanding of the Armenian Genocide. I can use the videos and
lessons based on personal stories, instead of just lecturing to them,”
said Leah Jardine, of Kansas.

While in St. Louis, Makasdjian and Cohan also attended the St. Louis
Armenian Youth Federation “Antranig” chapter dance, where they were
given a warm welcome and were offered an opportunity to introduce the
work of GenEd to Armenian-American community members. The local Armenian
Youth Federation and Armenian National Committee chapters and individual
attendees also generously contributed to GenEd’s efforts through their
financial support.

####

The Genocide Education Project is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, tax-exempt
501(c)(3) educational organization that assists educators in teaching
about human rights and genocide, particularly the Armenian Genocide, by
developing and distributing instructional materials, providing access to
teaching resources and organizing educational workshops. For more
information about The Genocide Education Project, go to

Photo Captions:
– GenEd conference workshop attendees at NCSS
– GenEd representatives, Sara Cohan (left of banner) and Roxanne
Makasdjian (right of banner) with St. Louis Area Community Members

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