Author: nina hovnanian

ALEPPO UNIVERSITY WITHDRAWS ERDOGAN’S HONORARY DOCTORATE

13:16 17/07/2013 ” IN THE WORLD

The council of Aleppo University has announced the withdrawal of an
honorary doctorate in international relations that the university
awarded to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2009,
Hurriyet Daily News reported.

Aleppo University Rector Dr. Khodr al-Orfali said during the council’s
meeting on July 15 that the move “came in response to the growing
demands of the Syrian universities’ councils and the academic, student
and public circles inside and outside Syria,” state-run news agency
SANA reported.

“Withdrawing the doctorate sends a vocal message of solidarity with the
Turkish people who oppose Erdogan’s hostile policies,” al-Orfali said.

Source: Panorama.am

ARMENIAN DM VISITS GEORGIA

12:27 17.07.2013
Seyran Ohanyan

The delegation headed by Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan
has left for Tbilisi for an official visit. The delegation comprises
First Deputy Defense Minister David Tonoyan, other officials from
the General Staff of RA Armed Forces.

Within the framework of the visit Seyran Ohanyan will have meetings
with his Georgian counterpart and other high-ranking officials.

Issues related to military and military-technical cooperation between
the Ministries of Defense of Armenia and Georgia will be discussed
during the visit.

NKR PRESIDENT MEETS BARONESS COX

12:11 17.07.2013
Bako Sahakyan, Caroline Cox

On 17 July President of the Nagorno Karabakh RepublicBako Sahakyan
received Baroness Caroline Cox.

A number of issues related to domestic and foreign policy of Artsakh
and regional processes were touched upon during the meeting.

The President expressed gratitude to Baroness for her constant support
to Artsakh, noting that it is important from political, social-economic
and moral perspectives, Central Information Department of the Office
of the NKR President reported.

SIGNATURE D’UN PROTOCOLE A EREVAN POUR L’éTABLISSEMENT D’UNE CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE ET D’INDUSTRIE ARMéNO-POLONAISE

ARMENIE

L’Arménie et la Pologne ont signé un mémorandum a Erevan afin
d’établir officiellement une chambre de commerce et d’industrie
arméno-polonaise.

Un projet avait été lancé il y a deux ans qui réunissait 80
entrepreneurs.

Cette chambre doit promouvoir une coopération économique plus
ciblée et plus efficace ” a décalré Mache Pogosevic, directeur
exécutif de la chambre de commerce et d’industrie arméno-polonaise.

Il a dit qu’une variété plus large de produits arméniens, d’abord
tous les produits agricoles, du vin et du brandy arménien, devraient
être offerts sur le marché polonais.

L’Ambassadeur de Pologne en Arménie Zdzislaw RaczyÅ~Dski a remis aux
représentants de la partie arménienne une carte de la Pologne avec
les noms de lieux en langue arménienne a titre de cadeau.

Il a dit que les lieux avec des khatchkars arméniens en Pologne sont
indiquées sur cette carte et a ajouté que c’est la première carte
d’un pays européen imprimé en langue arménienne.

mercredi 17 juillet 2013, Stéphane ©armenews.com

A MAN DIES AND THE WORLD CHANGES

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
July 16 2013

BERÄ°L DEDEGLU

Sometimes societies are ready to change fundamentally; they just wait
for a spark.

The spark may be the death of a man. Symbolic deaths, such as the death
of Jesus Christ, make people realize that the existing socio-political
order no longer satisfies their demands. Thus, people who were unable
to express their grievances until then and who notice that the current
system is unfair take to the streets. Turkish history is full of events
like this, and the funeral of murdered Armenian journalist Hrant Dink
is a perfect example of this phenomenon. We also remember Mohamed
Bouazizi, the young Tunisian street vendor who set himself alight,
starting a fire that burned down several authoritarian regimes in
the Middle East.

The history of the United States is also full of similar dramatic
events. The 1960s were particularly rich in this regard, and the
assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X
and Robert Kennedy changed the country fundamentally. Last year,
a 17-year-old American, Trayvon Martin, was killed by George Zimmerman.

The problem is that the killer is white, while the victim was black.

The jury found Zimmerman not guilty by reason of self-defense and
believed him when he said he is terribly sorry and that he had had
good intentions but events just went terribly wrong.

As expected, the verdict has made many people angry. Even US President
Barack Obama, who is the first black president in American history,
said he understands the nation’s frustration but that the US is a
nation of law and a jury has spoken. It would seem that seeing “one of
them” in the White House has not been enough for black Americans to
feel they are now equal citizens. Obama’s election did not eradicate
all discrimination in the United States. Instead, maybe his presence
in office has made ongoing discrimination less visible to society.

People suffer discrimination all around the world because of their
color, religion, race or sexual orientation. A woman can become prime
minister or a homosexual the mayor of the country’s capital, but these
things do not mean all that all discrimination has suddenly stopped.

The Trayvon Martin case has shown that the tension between whites and
blacks is still strong in the US. Additionally, the entire world has
learned that someone can kill another man in the US and be found not
guilty just because he was a neighborhood watch coordinator. It seems
that Zimmerman’s only concern was to “protect” his white neighbors.

The world is full of people like him. For example, last week, some
“volunteers” armed with knives and sticks attacked Gezi protesters
in Ä°stanbul, but a court decided to release one of them. He then
flew to Morocco.

The problem is the perceived gap between law and justice. The
existing laws that judges must follow do not always bring justice. The
judiciary does not think about what the social consequences of its
verdicts might be, either. That is why society sometimes believes
the judiciary itself is the very source of injustice.

Black people in the US are now demonstrating in the streets, and
Obama’s political opponents will certainly use this against him. They
will probably say that President Obama, who became president thanks
to the votes of black people, is not serving them. This is already
Obama’s second term, so he cannot run again for office. The Democrats
would, of course, like to keep the White House for another four years;
however, Obama’s mistakes are not helping them. As a consequence,
the Republicans, and the Tea Party, are becoming stronger. A Tea
Party-ruled US, however, would mean an aggressive country, and this
would be bad news for all of us.

The members of the jury in the Trayvon Martin case were most probably
unaware of global realities, but sometimes a single man dies and the
world changes.

ACTION OF PROTEST AGAINST HUMILIATION OF ARMENIAN CITIZEN IN RUSSIA TO BE HELD IN FRONT OF THE RUSSIAN EMBASSY IN ARMENIA

ARMINFO
Tuesday, July 16, 19:33

An action of protest against the humiliation of Armenian citizen
Hrachya Harutyunyan in Russian court will be held in front of the
Embassy of Russia in Armenia on Wednesday.

The press service of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
Dashnaktsutyun (ARFD) reports that the organizers of the action are
the Nikol Aghbalyan Students Union and the ARFD Youth Union.

“We are planning to give the employees of the Embassy an old housecoat
to show them that centuries-old ‘friendship’ is not eternal and that
nothing can justify this kind of behavior in ‘democratic’ Russia,”
says the organizers.

At the same time, they extend their condolences to the families of
those killed in the bus accident caused by Harutyunyan.

The fact that Harutyunyan was brought to court in a colored housecoat
has raised a wave of discontent in Armenia and among the Armenians
living in Russia. People in social networks are protesting against
such humiliation of human dignity.

On July 13 Harutyunyan’s Kamaz drove into a bus with 64 passengers. 18
people were killed. On July 15 the Tver court of Moscow ruled that
Harutyunyan should be in custody till Sept 13. The Armenian may face
seven years in jail if found guilty.

RUSSIAN EMBASSY IN ARMENIA SILENT ON HRACHYA HARUTYUNYAN’S CASE

July 16, 2013 | 18:01

YEREVAN. – Russian Embassy officials are not available for Armenian
reporters. The mobile phone of spokesperson Sergey Abelyan is turned
off and permanent attempts to reach him or any officials of the
embassy have failed.

The security officers responded to phone calls, explaining that
they cannot transfer the call due to technical bugs and advised that
reporters should call the spokesperson. Therefore, it was impossible
to reach someone for a comment on a protest action held near the
Embassy building.

Human right advocates, reporters and representatives of NGOs
participated in the action and urged to show respectful attitude
towards the citizen of Armenia.

As informed earlier, a truck crashed into a passenger bus on July 13
outside Moscow, and it was found out that the truck driver was an
Armenian citizen by the name of Hrachya Harutyunyan. The impact of
the crash was so powerful that the bus had split in two. The accident
claimed 18 lives and injured 64 others. The court had Harutyunyan
arrested on Monday. It is noteworthy that he was brought to the
courtroom with a women’s robe and was mocked at by Russian state-run
television.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

ROUBEN SAFRASTYAN. IN THE RUN-UP TO LOCAL ELECTIONS, TURKEY WILL UNLEASH A SMALL WAR WITH SYRIA
by Karina Manukyan

ARMINFO
Tuesday, July 16, 17:58

In the run-up to the local elections, Turkey will unleash a small war
with Syria, Professor Rouben Safrastyan, Director of the Institute
of Oriental Studies of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences,
said at a press conference on Tuesday.

He thinks that the war will aim to raise the rating of Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Safrastyan recalled that Erdogan’s
image considerably suffered from the protest actions around the Gezi
Park. The expert also thinks that a new political force may emerge
in Turkey in early 2014.

As regards the situation in Syria, Safrastyan thinks that if the
West fails to provide wide-scale military support to the rebels,
the Syrian Government will eventually exult in its victory. -n-

WAR WORDS: ANALYST CONSIDERS AZERI RHETORIC “COMMON”

SOCIETY | 16.07.13 | 18:10

By Gohar Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter

Modus Vivendi center leader believes the Azeri defense minister’s
saber-rattling of several days ago is nothing new and that “such
bellicose rhetoric has become rather common and is now on the
presidential, rather than the defense ministry level of Azerbaijan”.

Last week Azeri defense minister Safar Abiyev said during the reception
of the Korean National Assembly delegation on an official visit in Baku
that “Azerbaijan has no other choice but for strengthening its armed
forces and liberating its occupied lands,” reports Regnum information
agency. Abiyev also added that “Despite the attempts at peaceful
settlement of the conflict, Armenia continues its occupant policy. The
OSCE Minsk Group efforts so far have yielded no results either.”

Political analyst Ara Papyan, leading Modus Vivendi center, reflecting
on these statements told the press on Tuesday that the Karabakh issue
is entering a new stage and is largely perceived as Armenia-Azerbaijan
conflict.

Papyan believes that the West is not interested in a war in the region.

“We will definitely not lose this war. Azerbaijan definitely cannot
have an upper hand. Yes, today the morale and the psychological
atmosphere is different from the one in the 1990s, but the professional
combat-readiness and the kind of military weapons we possess provide
such opportunities that they [the Azeris] would never recover. But
the thing is that the potential war would have grave consequences
for the entire region,” says Papyan.

In reference to Armenia-Russia relations, in particular to the fact
that Russia recently sold a great amount of assault weaponry, including
multiple rocket launchers, to Azerbaijan, Papyan says that there is
certain tension between the two countries and Russia is to be blamed
for it, because its conduct is not befitting of a strategic partner.

“We have become too close to the Russians, and now they do not have
either fear or caution, because they have blocked all of Armenia’s
alternative roads. Under the circumstances Armenia should not give
up pre-signing the Association Agreement with the European Union,
which is beneficial both in economic and military terms,” he says.

A MORE POWERFUL WEAPON THAN SMERCH

No need for panic and historical parallels

On these days the Armenian society is discussing the sale of Russian
offensive weapons to Azerbaijan and a possible war. Two extreme
tendencies are noticed: almost panic scenarios of developments and
underestimation of the capacity of the Azerbaijani army and weapon.

The scenarios of panic are mainly linked to Russia’s intentions,
which may resort to armed provocations to “hold on” to Armenia with
the help of Azerbaijan or immediately. In addition, a parallel is
drown to 1920 when Russia deployed its army in Armenia, destroyed the
Armenian independent state and part of its territories were annexed
by Turkey and Azerbaijan.

It should be noted that there are similarities between the early 20th
century and the current period, and such scenarios occur naturally. In
fact, nothing should be ruled out in our region, including such a
scenario, especially that we are dealing with the Russian-Turkish
“tandem”.

Russia needs Armenia badly, and this need has always urged Moscow
to take abrupt steps rather than fair partnership. There are a lot
of examples, convincing ones. Armenia has always been between the
hammer and the anvil, and the problems of the region have always been
resolved at the expense of the Armenians. in addition, at that time it
did not matter whether the Armenian elite was pro-West or pro-Russian.

At the beginning of the 20th century the Armenian territories were
yielded to Turkey and Azerbaijan under the government appointed
by Moscow.

History tends to repeat but only in societies which are weak and
disorganized, deprived of ideals and creative potential. Otherwise,
there would be no empires and civilizations, great powers would not
collapse and new states would not be born.

The Armenians have such examples, few but still. These examples
overlap with periods when Armenians were all alone. One was the
period of establishment of the first republic, the second was the
war in Karabakh. When there was no logical explanation of victory,
no chance was outlining.

There is a trite expression but it is true – everything depends on
us, especially in most complicated and unfavorable scenarios of
developments. After all, any society has to achieve the right to
live and other rights. Whenever there is such will and wish, it is
difficult to implement any scenario. They would at least think over
the scenario. As it was in Karabakh when everyone had already put up
with the idea.

Is there such will and wish, mental and moral potential in Armenia
which is stronger than any weapon and politics? It is the most powerful
weapon and politics.

Is the Armenian public and political thought busy with making plans
and initiatives on administrative, defense and security, formulating
the Armenian factor which can turn the Armenian state to a full
international entity?

Are the political forces dealing with home and foreign policies engaged
in substantive debate and search for solutions that will strengthen
the country’s sovereignty or are they just serving the interests one
center of power or another?

Is the Armenian bourgeoisie a carrier of national ideals and does it
create economic capacities to reinforce defense of the country and
promote development of the political and spiritual thought?

Are the legislature and the executive, state institutions carrying out
their functions to create a favorable environment for the potential
of the society to form creative and competitive political and economic
systems?

Is this the reason of the defeatist attitude of the Armenian “elite”?

Of course, the first and the only answer to all these questions is
negative. Such environment is unable to resist external threats,
let alone complex and multi-user scenarios.

The Armenian society has everything. It has an economic, technological,
military, cultural and spiritual potential which is drowning in the
economic-political system established in Armenia. The issue is to
create conditions for the free expression of this potential, against
which any foreign provocation and Smerch would be powerless.

Haik Aramyan 15:32 16/07/2013 Story from Lragir.am News: