Patrick Devedjian : " La Propagande Negationniste Est Totalement Inv

PATRICK DEVEDJIAN : ” LA PROPAGANDE NEGATIONNISTE EST TOTALEMENT INVIVABLE ”

Le 11/07/2013 | Par Nouvel Hay | Categorie: EVENEMENTS, VIDEOS

MM. Patrick Devedjian et Jean-Jacques Saradjian

Discours de M. Patrick Devedjian, President du conseil general des
Hauts-de-Seine, lors de la fete champetre du 16 juin 2013 au collège
Samuel Moorat

“Je vais repondre a votre question, chers amis.

Tout d’abord, cela depend de la communaute armenienne pour l’essentiel,
comme d’ailleurs tout ce qui a pu etre fait dans la progression de
la communaute et de la cause armenienne. Moi je veux dire deux choses.

Je suis très heureux d’etre ici. J’y viens très rarement, la
dernière fois que j’y suis venu c’etait il y a un peu plus de 20
ans. La première fois c’etait en 1955 donc c’est assez loin. Mais
finalement , ce lieu qui est plein de souvenirs et qui pour moi
d’ailleurs est fondateur de mon identite armenienne. C’est ici que
j’ai appris profondement ce que c’etait que d’etre armenien. J’en
suis reconnaissant aux pères qui m’ont appris ca parfois un peu
sevèrement mais c’est reste. Et dans le fond, cet endroit n’a pas
beaucoup change. Je le dis parce que c’est bien pour la nostalgie de
retrouver ses repères dans un lieu de memoires mais je le dis aussi
d’une manière un peu critique par la difficulte qu’ont les Armeniens
a faire evoluer les choses et a faire avancer leurs projets.

Et donc, je suis heureux qu’il nait cette idee d’une fondation pour
y faire, Andre (Santini ndlr), non pas seulement un monument, un
monument, oui, mais surtout un musee du genocide pour repondre a la
propagande negationniste qui pour nous, est totalement insupportable
et invivable. Totalement invivable.

On a beau dire, on a beau faire, on ne s’y habitue pas. On ne s’habitue
pas au negationnisme, au fait que nous ne sommes pas arrives pour
la plupart d’entre nous en France par hasard, nous sommes arrives
en France a la suite d’un grand malheur qui est arrive pendant la
première guerre mondiale, le genocide dans lequel nos parents ont
ete les victimes parce que, ils etaient les allies de la France. Il
ne faut pas que les Francais d’origine l’oublient et il ne faut pas
que les Armeniens l’oublient non plus. Nous sommes morts pour la
France pour ceux d’entre nous qui ont disparus, nous sommes morts
pour la France. Et donc, dans cette terre qui nous a accueillis aussi
avec generosite et dont la generosite continue a travers ses elus,
a travers ce qu’ils font, nous voulons simplement que dans notre
identite de citoyen francais, notre origine soit preservee dans son
identite, sans vanite, sans orgueil.

Simplement parce que c’est fondamental pour notre dignite simplement et
je crois aussi pour la dignite de la France. Parce que la France avait
ecrit le 24 mai 1915, un mois après le debut du genocide, la France
avait ecrit, c’est son honneur, elle avait ecrit que la Turquie qui
commettait un crime de guerre, un crime contre l’humanite et c’etait
la première fois que le concept apparaissait dans la diplomatie et
dans le droit international ” La Turquie devrait rendre compte après
la guerre de cet immense crime contre l’humanite “. C’est la France
qui avait fait ca et c’est son honneur et c’est aussi pour ca qu’on
l’aime et c’est pour ca que dans la souffrance on est venu vers elle et
c’est pour ca qu’on est attache aussi a ce que son honneur soit intact.

Donc nous voudrions que dans ce pays qui nous a accueillis, nous
soyons en mesure de repondre par des preuves, par des actes, par des
temoignages, par mille choses, de cette histoire qui fait l’origine
de notre presence ici. Et donc en ce lieu, celui du baron Bacler
d’Albe, le peintre et geographe de Napoleon, c’etait un geographe,
cartographe, dans ce lieu qui est deja un lieu historique de la
France. Et puis c’est bien aussi que la cartographie puisse s’etendre
jusqu’a l’Armenie. Nous voudrions faire un centre de documentation,
un musee du genocide. Il y en a un naturellement a Tzitzernagapert,
beaucoup d’entre vous le connaisse, y sont alles mais nous voudrions
ici pour la diaspora, qu’il y en ait un dans ce lieu de communication
intense, dans ce lieu emblematique intense qu’est la France, ici a
Sèvres où a ete signe le traite de Sèvres ” qui ressuscitait l’Armenie
“, ” qui ressuscitait l’Armenie ” et qui a ete trahie en moins de
trois ans. Il faut moins de trois ans pour un homme politique pour
renier sa signature, meme pas sa parole, sa signature, dans ce lieu de
Sèvres si emblematique de notre histoire et de l’injustice que nous
avons subie. Nous voudrions qu’il y ait cette reponse documentee
au negationnisme odieux dont nous continuons a etre les victimes
persecutees.

Et donc, bien sur, les elus nous suivent parce qu’ils connaissent
l’histoire. Les Armeniens sont un peu les casse-pieds, ils ne laissent
a personne ignorer leur histoire. Mais vous avez donc ete oblige
de l’apprendre vous qui etes elus les uns et les autres mais nous
voulons qu’ici, si on veut savoir, il n’y a pas d’endroit en France,
faut faire des recherche enormes. Si on veut savoir il faut qu’il y
ait un endroit où on a tout pour savoir de manière facile et simple.

Vous savez, il n’y a pas un francais sur mille qui sait que l’Armenie a
ete sous mandat francais a partir de 1916 avec un haut commissaire en
Armenie qui s’appelait M. Georges-Picot et que les Armeniens etaient
refugies a partir de 1916 sous le drapeau francais ont constitue une
legion armenienne qui a combattu aux côtes de l’armee francaise, il
n’y a pas un francais sur mille qui sait cela. Et c’est l’histoire
de France !

C’est l’histoire de l’Armenie mais c’est l’histoire de France. Et donc
nous voulons qu’il y ait un endroit la qui permet d’acceder facilement
pour tout le monde et aux gens honnetes qui veulent s’informer de le
trouver. Ca depend d’abord de la communaute armenienne, si vous etes
incapable de vous mobiliser, n’attendez rien des autres. Vous pouvez
demander aux autres si vous vous levez vous-memes. Et malheureusement,
chez les Armeniens, les choses sont toujours très lentes, mon cher
Andre, très lentes. Malgre la bonne volonte de leurs amis qui est
manifestee par leur presence ici, aujourd’hui mais qui constamment les
accompagne sur le chemin. Je dis a la communaute armenienne qu’elle
doit se mobiliser. Elle a commence a le faire, nous n’avons pas obtenu
la reconnaissance du genocide armenien par hasard, nous continuons
a nous battre contre le negationnisme mais le combat continue.

C’est un combat eternel mais vous avez l’habitude, vous etes un
peuple de survivants, vous etes un peuple qui a connu un très long
martyrologue, de très grandes difficultes. Vous etes arrives dans ce
pays dans la misère, vous etes arrives dans ce pays dans le denouement
absolu, vous etes devenu des citoyens a part entière comme les autres.

Vous avez le droit de citer, vous etes reconnus pour ce que vous etes
dans votre identite. C’est une belle victoire : ” La victoire de
l’integration “. C’est une victoire pour la France et une victoire
pour vous, une victoire des deux mais rien n’est termine, le combat
continue.

Texte depuis la source video dans son integralite : Jean-Jacques
SARADJIAN

Sources video & photo : Armand CICEK

http://www.nouvelhay.com/2013/07/11/patrick-devedjian-la-propagande-negationniste-est-totalement-invivable/

CENN: Socio-economic Tools for Integrated Conservation Planning in t

PRESS RELEASE
Caucasus Environmental NGO Network
28, Chovelidze street
Tbilisi, 380008, GEORGIA
Tel: ++ 995 32 99 63 28, 995 99 57 77 22
E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]
Web:

Socio-economic Tools for Integrated Conservation Planning in the
Multi-Ethnic South Caucasus Workshop

In 2012 our research group at Göttingen University was granted a
small = R&D contract by German Federal Ministry of Education and
Research for a = study with the title “Socio-economic tools for
integrative conservation = planning in the South Caucasus”. With
partners from Georgia (International Center = for Environmental
Research), Azerbaijan (Ganja Agribusiness Association), Armenia
(International Center for Agribusiness Research and Education) = and
The Regional Environmental Center for the Caucasus (REC), we have
established two twinned case study sites (Lagodekhi/Georgia and
Zaqatala/Azerbaijan, Javakheti/Georgia and Lake Arpi/Armenia).

The project studies options for an improved national park and buffer
= zone management focusing on in depth social science data. After a
series of qualitative interviews during the summer 2012, we started
with = quantitative interviews on the livelihoods of the rural
population around the = national parks last year. For a first
documentation of our results, see the = attached documents or visit
our project website (see below).

On October 1st, 2013, we will hold an expert
conference in the Marriot Country Garden in Tbilisi (10:00 to 14:30
hrs). We want to present and discuss our latest results, and explore
future = options for collaboration on socio-economic conservation and
buffer zone = research in the South Caucasus.

Please let us know if you are interested in
participating in the workshop until 31st of July.

For further information of the project please take a look on our
wikiversity webpage
(

ion_Planning_in_the_Multi-Ethnic_South_Caucasus) and the enclosed
abstracts.

http://www.cenn.org/
http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Socio-economic_Tools_for_Integrated_Conservat

Azerbaidjan : Malahat Nasibova Dans L’enclave Du Nakhchivan

AZERBAIDJAN : MALAHAT NASIBOVA DANS L’ENCLAVE DU NAKHCHIVAN
Par Veronique Gaymard

revue de presse

En Azerbaïdjan, l’etau semble se resserrer autour des opposants et
des defenseurs des droits de l’homme qui denoncent des arrestations
arbitraires a trois mois de l’election presidentielle. Le president
Ilham Aliev, qui brigue un troisième mandat, est pratiquement sûr
de l’emporter dans ce pays riche en hydrocarbures. Mais une enclave
de ce pays fait très peu parler d’elle, la petite republique du
Nakhchivan, une region autonome de l’Azerbaïdjan, separee physiquement
par l’Armenie avec lequel le pays est encore en guerre, et bordee au
sud par l’Iran et au nord-ouest par la Turquie. Veronique Gaymard a
pu rencontrer Malahat Nasibova, journaliste et militante des droits
de l’homme du Nakhchivan. Selon elle, sa region est un laboratoire
de la repression.

pour ecouter cliquer sur le lien

jeudi 1er août 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com

http://www.rfi.fr/emission/20130727-azerbaidjan-malahat-nasibova-nakhchivan

Hraparak Newspaper Reports On Innovative Dr. Allen’s Devices And The

HRAPARAK NEWSPAPER REPORTS ON INNOVATIVE DR. ALLEN’S DEVICES AND THERMOBALANCING THERAPY APPROPRIATE FOR UROLOGICAL AND OTHER DISEASES

PR Web
July 31 2013

The resort to Thermobalancing therapy is highly important and
beneficial, especially to older adults, as Dr. Allen’s Devices can
treat various chronic disorders, including common urological diseases,
such as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), chronic prostatitis
and kidney stones, notes Fine Treatment. Hraparak newspaper has
published an interview with a leading Armenian urologist Professor
Ivan Aghajanyan discussing Dr. Allen’s innovative treatment.

London, GB (PRWEB) July 31, 2013

“Though it is a novelty in Armenia, it has already appeared in
some pharmacies. For instance, Dr. Allen’s Devices are available
at the central Pharmacy Number 18 located at 2 Baghramyan Avenue
and Pharmacy Number 11 at Zakyana Street,” says a leading Armenian
urologist Professor Ivan G. Aghajanyan, Chief of Urology Department at
the Mikaelian Institute of Surgery, who is conducting clinical research
on the efficacy of Dr. Allen’s Devices. Fine Treatment highlights that
Thermobalancing therapy enabled by Dr. Allen’s Devices improves the
condition of the affected organs effectively and totally harmlessly,
helping to treat chronic prostatitis up to recovery, reverse benign
prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and dissolve kidney stones of any size
and type.

The article titled ‘Professor I. Aghajanyan discusses natural
treatment with Dr. Allen’s Devices appropriate for urological and
other diseases’, published in Hraparak newspaper on July 30, 2013,
quotes Professor Aghajanyan: “Dr. Simon Allen has created The Origin
of Diseases Theory based on his profound medical experience. He
concludes that chronic diseases are caused by the development of the
capillary net, which grows so actively that becomes a separate tissue
impeding arterial blood flow. So the foundation of chronic diseases,
in his view, is the chronic impairment of blood circulation due to
excess development of the capillary net. Therefore, the treatment
with Dr. Allen’s Devices is directed at the improvement of blood
circulation in the affected organs.”

Informing sufferers of chronic conditions about the advantages of
powerful and harmless Thermobalancing therapy is important, as it
gives them a chance to avoid risky surgeries, removal procedures and
medications. An unnecessary surgical treatment of the prostate gland
can break a man’s life. Men’s-Health Forum on Retrograde Ejaculation
after Prostate Surgery is full of devastating experiences. For example,
a post of 25 June 2011 says, “Do not get laser prostate surgery –
if you still enjoy having sex, you will not afterwards – they don’t
tell you everything!”

Contrary to drugs and surgeries, Dr. Allen’s Devices start to
work on the affected organ without delay. Please watch a video:
, where a man with a
hugely enlarged prostate, weighting about 130 grams, has shrunk it
to 30 grams by wearing Dr. Allen’s Device for 2 years without any
medications. More user feedback is available on the Medical Evidence
page on the Fine Treatment website.

“The users of Dr. Allen’s Devices confirm the unique efficacy of
natural Thermobalancing therapy,” notes Dr. Simon Allen. “Dr. Allen’s
therapeutic devices can be used for one or multiple health problems,
ultimately reducing inflammation and swelling in the affected organs.

They ease pain and relieve other symptoms naturally, helping people
enjoy their life again.”

For details, please visit Fine Treatment at

About Dr. Simon Allen and Fine Treatment:

Dr. Simon Allen, MD, PhD is a highly experienced medical professional.

His specialty is in the internal medicine. He has treated a wide
range of chronic diseases, including patients after a heart attack,
with kidneys problems, including kidney stones disease, prostate and
spine conditions, as well as metabolic disorders. Fine Treatment
exclusively offers Dr Allen’s devices for chronic prostatitis and
BPH treatment, coronary heart disease, dissolving kidney stones,
as well as back pain and sciatica relief.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5xidswhxJM
http://finetreatment.com/bph-treatment-prostate-enlargement.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/kidneystones_bphtreatment/treat_chronic_prostatitis/prweb10981355.htm

Why Documents On Armenia-EU Talks Secret?

WHY DOCUMENTS ON ARMENIA-EU TALKS SECRET?

17:39 31.07.13

The Armenia-EU negotiations over a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade
Area Agreement (DCFTA) are nearing completion.

The agreement is most likely to be initialed at the EU Summit in
Vilnius, Lithuania.

Certain political forces and figures are concerned over the fact the
negotiations-related documents have not so far been published. They
demand that Armenia’s authorities that they publish the documents,
which will raise publish awareness.

Tigran Balayan, Spokesman for Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
told Tert.am that the documents cannot be published now.

“I would advise you to read Armenia’s law on international agreements,”
he said.

Balayan stressed that the same principle applies to all the
international documents Armenia has signed.

Armenian News – Tert.am

Wrestlers Of Armenian Origin Strengthen European Teams

WRESTLERS OF ARMENIAN ORIGIN STRENGTHEN EUROPEAN TEAMS

20:51, 31 July, 2013

YEREVAN, JULY 31, ARMENPRESS: 55 kg Greco-Roman wrestler Artak
Margaryan and 60 kg freestyle wrestler Nikolay Aivazyan will represent
correspondingly French and Ukrainian national wrestling teams in
international tournaments.

“Armenpress” was informed about this from Armenian wrestling
federation. Both wrestlers are considered to be among best wrestlers
of the world and real contenders for medals.

Polish freestyle wrestling team will be strengthened by another
Armenian wrestler 60 kg Eduard Barsaeghyan. Armenian wrestlers are
also represented in German, Spanish, Russian and other national teams.

http://armenpress.am/eng/print/727896/wrestlers-of-armenian-origin-strengthen-european-teams.html

Saudi Weapons Delivered To Al-Qaeda In Northern Syria

SAUDI WEAPONS DELIVERED TO AL-QAEDA IN NORTHERN SYRIA

Wed Jul 31, 2013 4:48

TEHRAN (FNA)- The UN has received intelligence showing that 60% of
Saudi arms shipments to Syria have been delivered to al-Qaeda forces,
sources said.

According to a report by the Lebanese daily al-Akhbar, the UN’s
information shows that the al-Nusrah Front and the Islamic Emirate
of Iraq and Sham affiliated to the terrorist al-Qaeda organization
have received a major part of the Saudi shipped weapons cargos.

Saudi Arabia has supplied the weapons from one of the East European
countries, which were alleged to be shipped to the so-called moderate
opposition forces who fight the Syrian government, but Riyadh has
delivered them directly to the terrorist groups, the report said
on Wednesday.

Earlier reports this month also said that Saudi Arabia had struck
a deal with the Israeli army to buy weapons for militants fighting
against the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

Israeli Radio reported that Saudi Arabia signed a 50-million-dollar
deal with Israeli army to supply the foreign-backed militants with
old Israeli military equipment and arms.

The reports added that the weapons include different kinds of anti-tank
missiles, military vehicles, artillery equipment, and night vision
devices.

The report came as The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported last month
that Saudi Arabia has provided the Takfiri militants with Russian-made
Konkurs anti-tank missiles.

It quoted militant sources as saying that they had received the first
batch of the heavy weaponry from Saudi Arabia in the Syrian Northern
city of Aleppo.

On June 14, US President Barack Obama ordered his administration to
provide the militants with weapons.

Israeli President Shimon Peres voiced support for Washington’s arming
of the Takfiri militants in Syria. Takfiris accuse most Islamic sects
of being infidels.

However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned other states
against providing weapons to the militants in Syria, saying that the
arms could end up in Europe one day.

The Syrian government says the West and its regional allies –
especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey – are supporting the
militants.

Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since 2011. According to the
United Nations, more than 100,000 people have been killed and millions
of others displaced in the violence.

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13920509001080

Naira Zohrabyan’s Advice To Gyumri Officials (Video)

NAIRA ZOHRABYAN’S ADVICE TO GYUMRI OFFICIALS (VIDEO)

[ Part 2.2: “Attached Text” ]

July 29 2013

“I was surprised at the publication that I have suggested a party
support to sit-in freedom fighters in Gyumri, and that they have
renounced the support. It is a shameful and shameless lie”,-said
the secretary of PAP parliamentary faction Naira Zohrabyan in a
conversation with Aravot.am, adding that, yesterday, she has met
with sit-in freedom fighters in Gyumri, and Tigran Harutyunyan who
has announced that Naira Zohrabyan has suggested a ‘party support’
was generally not present at the meeting.

Mrs. Zohrabyan also added that sit-in freedom fighters have expressed
their deep gratitude for the visit, because during their sit-in for
a few days, no official or public servant visited them, nor they were
interested in the reasons of the sit-in and in the problems of freedom
fighters. “Those people, whether they are MPs or other officials who
were obliged to at least visit freedom fighters, let’s them be good to
do their job, be so kind to visit these people and learn about their
problems. It is awkward, they are busy with disseminating shameful
disinformation just to hide their own inaction.

Sit-in freedom fighters were so decent that they did not raise any
issue of support, but were talking about their rights provided for
by the law, about being protected by the state,”-said Mrs. Zohrabyan.

She also said that she has made arrangements with the participating
sit-in freedom fighters that a discussion with be held between PAP
MP Martun Grigoryan and experts of the faction in the nearest future.

The latter will listen to the suggestions of sit-in participants
regarding the legislative amendments on social situation of freedom
fighters. “Their problem is one to provide certain legislative
privileges for freedom fighters. Our conversation exclusively refers
to the sphere of legislative regulation,”-said our interlocutor.

The video taken from “Kentron” TV company.

Nelly Grigoryan

Read more at:

http://en.aravot.am/2013/07/29/155753/

Japanese Figure Skaters To Train In Armenia

JAPANESE FIGURE SKATERS TO TRAIN IN ARMENIA

[ Part 2.2: “Attached Text” ]

13:48, 31 July, 2013

YEREVAN, JULY 31, ARMENPRESS: The Japanese National Figure Skating
Olympic team will hold its trainings at the skating rink of the
Yerevan Sport and Concert Complex named after Karen Demirchyan to
prepare for the Sochi Olympic Winter Games to be held in February
2014. This was reported to Armenpress by the Director of the skating
rink of the Sport and Concert Complex after Karen Demirchyan David
Muradyan. He noted that the initiative to hold trainings in Armenia
belongs to the Japanese side.

The Director of the skating rink of the Sport and Concert Complex after
Karen Demirchyan stated that during the Yerevan visit of the Japanese
delegation all the training conditions and terms will be discussed
and set. David Muradyan noted that the Japanese are quite delicate
specialists with high requirements and if the Japanese Olympians have
chosen Yerevan as a place for their trainings, that is a very high
evaluation of the Yerevan Complex and its skating rink. The latter
could be ready for any kind of trainings or corresponding events at
any moment.

http://armenpress.am/eng/news/727832/japanese-figure-skaters-to-train-in-armenia.html

Unrecognised, Disputed Territory Becomes Tourist Hit. AFP

UNRECOGNISED, DISPUTED TERRITORY BECOMES TOURIST HIT. AFP

[ Part 2.2: “Attached Text” ]

12:18, 31 July, 2013

YEREVAN, JULY 31, ARMENPRESS: Sniper fire, minefields, ghost
towns: perched perilously on the verge of conflict, the disputed
Armenian-controlled Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh may not
sound the ideal holiday destination. Now, though, a growing number
of foreign tourists are heading to the breakaway territory – which
is not recognised by any state – and say they are seeing a different
side to its war-scarred image,- as reports Armenpress, reads AFP
global news agency’s article about Nagorno-Karabakh.

Wandering around the region’s largest town Stepanakert as part of a
tour group whose members come from places ranging from Turin to Taiwan,
French pharmacist Jordan Nahoum said that while he knew all about
Nagorno-Karabakh’s bloody past, he was surprised by what he found.

“People are very nice and open,” Nahoum, 23, said as he stood next to
a row of hawkers selling tourist trinkets. “It is very safe here and 
I see many tourists from different countries – I don’t feel myself
in danger.”

Seized from Azerbaijan by Armenian-backed separatists in a brutal
war that claimed an estimated 30,000 lives as the Soviet Union
disintegrated in the early 1990s, Nagorno-Karabakh remains frozen
between war and peace.

Despite a fragile 1994 ceasefire that ended major hostilities,
repeated attempts to get Armenia and Azerbaijan to sign a final
peace deal over the past two decades have failed, and both sides –
especially oil-rich Azerbaijan – are rearming heavily.

Nagorno-Karabakh is still recognised as part of Azerbaijan by the
United Nations, but its population is almost completely ethnic Armenian
after the Azerbaijani community fled in the wake of the war.

Soldiers along the heavily fortified frontline exchange gunfire almost
daily, with both sides blaming each other for violating the ceasefire.

So far this year some 20 soldiers from both sides have been killed.

– ‘A pleasant place for tourism’ – Despite this, the local authorities
have pumped money into promoting the region at tourist fairs overseas,
and they say the drive is paying off.

Over the past few years, local authorities say, visitor numbers
have grown by 40 percent annually and in 2012 the number of foreign
tourists – not counting visitors from Armenia’s huge diaspora –
topped 15,500 people.

“This unprecedented growth shows that despite the heated confrontation
with Azerbaijan we’ve created an image of Karabakh as a pleasant
place for tourism, safe and interesting,” says Sergey Shahverdyan,
head of the separatist authority’s department for tourism.

Once ravaged by fighting, the serene boulevards of Stapanakert –
some 50 kilometres from the frontline – do not feel like they are
in a conflict zone and the town is now studded with new hotels and
restaurants following a building boom in recent years.

“If we can maintain this sort of growth in visitors then in five years
tourism will be one of the most profitable sectors for our budget,”
Shahverdyan said, pointing out that no tourist had ever been injured
in Karabakh.7/31/13 Unrecognised, disputedterritorybecomes tourist
hit. AFP | ARMENPRESS Arme – Rugged mountains and thickly forested
hills –

Azerbaijan though is fiercely opposed to the nascent tourist industry
in a region it considers under illegal occupation.

Anyone visiting Nagorno-Karabakh – which is only accessible by road
from Armenia – risks being blacklisted by Baku, and moves to open a
new airport that would boost Stepanakert’s links to the outside world
have brought threats of a return to war.

But for those willing to risk the journey, tour operators argue that
there is plenty to attract tourists to Nagorno-Karabakh – a spectacular
highland area of rugged mountains and thickly forested hills.

Despite the destruction of cultural heritage in the war, the region
remains studded with testaments to its rich and diverse history –
from ancient ruins to medieval monasteries and 18th-century mosques.

For some visitors though, that is not enough.

“There are those who prefer extreme tourism, who want to go to the
frontline, but we have to explain to them that it can be dangerous
as there are minefields,” said Gohar Hovannisyan, a manager at tour
firm Sati.

In fact, it is impossible to escape the grim reminders of the region’s
brutal conflict, which often saw neighbour turn on neighbour and the
entire 600,000-strong Azerbaijani population of Nagorno-Karabakh and
seven surrounding districts forced to flee.

“We don’t hide anything about the conflict,” says tour guide Ani
Hovhannisyan.

But both sides have radically different versions of what happened
and inevitably it is the Armenian side of the story tourists hear
when they visit.

Such is the case with the town of Agdam – a former Azerbaijani city of
around 50,000 inhabitants outside Karabakh, which was one of several
areas Karabakh Armenian forces overran in 1993.

It is now a bombed-out ghost town, its Azerbaijani population among
the hundreds of thousands forced to flee the region. Hovhannisyan
says she tells her tourists that Agdam had to be cleared because
Azerbaijanis there used to fire on Armenian civilians.

Despite the region’s uncertain future, tourists like Andrey Hoynowski
from Poland say they will be recommending a visit to their friends back
home and that the added attention might even help Karabakh move on.

“They need to resolve this conflict peacefully, but in the meantime
they shouldn’t stop tourists from travelling here,” Hoynowski, 59,
said, smiling for a photograph in front of the medieval Gandzasar
monastery.

http://armenpress.am/eng/news/727811/unrecognised-disputed-territory-becomes-tourist-hit-afp.html