Author: nina hovnanian

ARMENIANS TO HAVE A PROTEST ACTION IN THE CENTER OF BERLIN AGAINST ERDOGAN’S VISIT

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 30, ARMENPRESS: Central Council of Armenians in
Germany gathers Armenians in the center of Berlin near Brandenburg
Gate to have a protest, against the upcoming visit of Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

As Armenpress was informed from the Chairman of the Central Council of
Armenians in Germany Azat Ordukhanian, Armenians as well as migration
organizations in Germany are calling for orchestrating a big protest
action.

“We will raise our voice of protest near Brandenburg Gate against
Erdogan’s arriving on Wednesday and will demand a new policy towards
the religious and ethnic minorities in Turkey” noted Ordukhanian.

The protest will be also addressed to the German diplomatic
institutions to demand Turkish PM to secure the full protection of
human rights and religious freedom.

Besides Armenians, Assyrians, Kurdish and Yezidis will also participate
in the demonstration. It is to start tomorrow on October 31, at 11:00
AM by German time.

Central Council of Armenians in Germany urges all the Armenians to
participate in the action, to be there and demand Turkey to recognize
the Genocide committed against Armenians, Assyrians and Pontian Greeks.

“The refusing policy of Ankara is unacceptable. Almost 100 years
have passed but the generations remain to demand justice” underlined
Ordukhanian.

Some German newspapers have already spread messages. Die Welt daily
cited Azat Ordukhanian when saying that Turkey was keeping up to its
insidious Islamic policy.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is arriving to Berlin on
October 30. The meeting of Erdogan with Angela Merkel Chancellor of
Germany will take place on October 31. Besides the bilateral relations,
Kurdish issue and the issue of Turkish membership with EU are included
in the agenda.

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REPRESENTATIVE OF AZERBAIJANI MINISTRY OF DEFENCE DOESN’T HAVE BASIC MILITARY KNOWLEDGE. ARCRUN HOVHANNISYAN

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 30, ARMENPRESS: The spokesman of Azerbaijani
Ministry of Defence doesn’t have basic military knowledge otherwise
he would have acknowledged that his words have nothing to do with
military work. Armenpress cited the interview with the spokesman of
Armenian Ministry of Defence Arcrun Hovhannisyan who commented on
the declaration of Eldar Sabiroglu his Azeri counterpart, according
to which Azerbaijan had such a radar station which could not only
neutralize missiles from Armenian side but also strike any object in
Armenia, thus putting the future of Armenia under the question.

“It is an unserious announcement, what does it mean cutting radar?

There is no such radar which can neutralize a missile and at the
same time make a responding blow. It’s obvious that this man doesn’t
have basic knowledge, the evidence of which is his announcement”
underlined Hovhannisyan.

ARMENIAN OPPOSITION LEADER MEETS WITH U.S. AMBASSADOR

tert.am
30.10.12

Armenia’s first president, Chairman of the opposition bloc Armenian
National Congress (ANC) Levon Ter-Petrosyan held a meeting on Tuesday
with U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Heffern.

The ANC leader dwelt on Armenia’s domestic political situation,
particularly the forthcoming presidential election, grave
socio-economic situation in the country and presented his view of
Armenia’s future and development.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan stressed the importance of uncompromising
struggle against system corruption and pointed out the necessary
priority measures.

Brian Rorraf of the U.S Embassy in Armenia, Levon Zurabyan, Head of
the ANC parliamentary group and Avetis Avagyan of the ANC Central
Office participated in the meeting.

EXPERT: DURING PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS OF 2013 SERZH SARGSYAN’S VICTORY IS SECURED EVEN IN THE FIRST ROUND

arminfo
Tuesday, October 30, 16:14

The second president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan will not run for
president in 2013 unless he has serious political support or victory
guarantee, Gevorg Poghosyan, Director of the Institute of Philosophy,
Sociology and Law, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, told
ArmInfo.

“Only shallow persons can participate in elections without a serious
party’s support. They do that just to show themselves off. Kocharyan is
a serious politician, who will not take part in the elections without
the support of Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP), which may nominate PAP
Leader Gagik Tsarukyan’s candidacy, or ARF Dashnaktsutyun”, he said. In
the meantime, Poghosyan failed to reply to the question whether the
second president of Armenia prevents the PAP from cooperating with
the Republicans and whether he doesn’t allow the PAP to support the
incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan during the forthcoming presidential
elections.

The expert thinks that the second president has apparently taken
a back seat for some time, and the supposed fight among the three
presidents will not take place. He says the fight could take place
only in case of force-majeure, particularly, in case of confrontation
in the Karabakh conflict zone or a domestic political crisis, when the
second and the first presidents feel that their time has come and the
incumbent president has no constitutional right to take part in the
elections. Poghosyan added that one should not expect a second round
in the presidential elections 2013, as at the moment Serzh Sargsyan
has no real competitor.

To recall, the presidential elections in Armenia will be held in Feb
2013. According to the mass media, the possible candidates for the
presidents are the ex-foreign minister of Armenia Vartan Oskanian,
first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Leader of Heritage
Party Raffi Hovannisian, who has recently put down his deputy mandate,
second president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan, Leader of Prosperous
Armenia Party Gagik Tsarukyan. According to a public opinion poll,
43.4% of the opposition electorate prefers Gagik Tsarukyan’s candidacy,
the following candidacies rank next: Robert Kocharyan (20.2%), Raffi
Hovannisian (14.2%), Levon Ter-Petrosyan (5.8%), ARFD Bureau member
Vahan Hovhannisyan (5.7%).

ARMENIAN YOUTH CONFERENCE IN TBILISI

hetq
16:25, October 30, 2012

The Hayartoun Cultural Center of the Armenian Apostolic Church Diocese
in Georgia conducted a youth conference in Tbilisi on October 26-27
that was attended by young Armenians living in the Georgian capital
and other districts of the country.

The two day conference, organized with the assistance from Armenia’s
Ministries of the Diaspora, Culture, and Sport and Youth Affairs,
was tasked with bringing Armenian youth living in Georgia closer
together and getting them involved in social and church affairs.

ALMA’S NEW DIRECTOR SEEKS NEW WAYS TO CONNECT VISITORS TO CULTURAL HERITAGE
By Gabriella Gage

Mirror-Spectator Staff

WATERTOWN – After several years of collaboration, Dr. Susan Pattie
recently joined the Armenian Library and Museum of America (ALMA) as
its new director. When she found out she would be relocating to the
Boston area from London, working with ALMA seemed like the perfect
choice for Pattie.

As the new director, Pattie hopes to build upon ALMA’s history of
community outreach, saying, “What interested me most is outreach and
making the heritage come alive, and also making it relevant to the
contemporary world. ALMA does an amazing job of preserving cultural
treasures and bringing people in to show them how to connect to their
history and heritage.”

Pattie, a Washington DC native, received her undergraduate degree from
Hope College and worked as an artist/craftsperson before earning her
doctorate in anthropology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

She served as the senior research fellow at University College London
and later was a founding director of the Armenian Institute in London.

Her academic research has focused on the Armenian Diaspora and
preservation of Armenian culture.

She is also the author of Faith in History: Armenians Rebuilding
Community. Pattie worked on several education-based projects during
her time as director of the Armenian Institute. She said, “We did it
because there wasn’t another organization there using mixed media
arts to bring history to a contemporary context. We wanted to have
an exchange of ideas – a forum for presenting ideas among each other.”

In 201l, Pattie and Armenian Institute colleagues published a
children’s educational guidebook (available at ALMA) titled, Who Are
the Armenian People? “The project grew out of a conversation with a
parent in London who wanted to talk to children about Armenian history,
but wasn’t sure how to go about it,” Pattie noted.

The book also tackles the difficult subject of explaining the Genocide
to children, Pattie said. “We discuss the history of the Armenian
people. We also need to explain what genocide is so that children will
understand. That section took a long time to write. It talks about
survivors as well as those Turkish people who helped some survivors
escape – how the diaspora of today began. What is important is that
they [children] understand that not only were lives lost but a way
of life was lost.”

In addition to educating children, the book serves as an introduction
for adults unfamiliar with Armenian history and culture.

Pattie was also one of the authors of Treasured Objects: Armenian
Daily Life in the Ottoman Empire, which served as part of an exhibit
at the Armenian Institute in London and even includes descriptions of
objects brought over by Pattie’s own grandmother during the Genocide.

Combining her artistic background with her anthropological research
has given Pattie a deep appreciation for Armenian material culture
and media – one that she hopes to pass on to ALMA visitors. Pattie
explained, “I think use of multimedia – such as performing arts as
well as crafts – is very important. It allows visitors to understand
that Armenians didn’t just survive; they regenerated themselves and
continue to create and thrive. I want them to leave ALMA thinking,
‘What an amazing past, but also, what an exciting future.'”

So far, Pattie has enjoyed getting acquainted with ALMA and with the
thriving Boston-area Armenian community.

“The people [at ALMA] are great and very welcoming, and
supportive.People have emailed me their ideas for the museum […] I
love hearing what people think and [their] ideas. We try to incorporate
them,” she said, adding with a smile, “The Watertown community has
been so welcoming.”

In addition to several larger projects in the works, Pattie shared
that there will be an ALMA lecture on November 15, featuring,
Nora Lessersohn, a Harvard University Divinity School researcher,
discussing the cultural traditions of the Ottoman-Armenian community.

PROSPEROUS ARMENIA IS AGAINST 2013 BUDGET; DESCRIBES IT AS ‘SURVIVAL BUDGET.’

/ARKA/
30 October, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, October 29. / ARKA /. The Prosperous Armenia Party, which is
the second largest in the Armenian parliament, controlling 37 seats
in the 131-member legislator, said it will not endorse the government
budget drafted for 2013 in its current form.

Speaking to a news conference, Mikael Melkumian, a party lawmaker and
deputy chairman of a parliament committee on economic issues, said,
“We are against this document in its present form. I would describe
it as a “survival budget.”

He argued that this budget is not designed to help the government
implement its major plans, as spelled out in its action plan for
2012-2017 ‘because of a disproportion between revenues and spending.”

Melkumyan also expressed surprise at the government’s forecast that
the GDP in 2013-2015 will be growing by 3.8% annually, while the 2013
draft budget has set it at 6.2 2%.

“It is unclear what could happen in the world economy over the four
months to bring Armenian GDP forecast down by 3%,” he said.

He said his party advocates what he called ‘extension and incentive’
policy in the sphere of business.

He also said the party’s faction will float amendments to the laws
on the minimum pension, as well as drafts laws on industrial policy
and deposits.

The 2013 draft budget approved by the government on September 27,
calls for 1.059 trillion drams in revenue and 1.183 trillion in
spending. The projected budget gap is 124 billion drams, the 12 month
inflation is projected at 4 ± 1, 5% and the economic expansion at 6%.

($ 1-405.3 drams). -0-

ARMEN AGHAYAN: ARTSAKH SHOULD BE DECLARED INTEGRAL PART OF ARMENIA

Panorama.am
30/10/2012

Recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence is absolutely
unacceptable because it is only aimed at Nagorno-Karabakh’s
independence from Armenia as NKR became independent from Azerbaijan
long ago, political scientist Armen Aghayan told reporters, referring
to the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh’s recognition.

According to the expert, recognition of Artsakh’s independence is even
in the interests of Azerbaijan, because after becoming independent
from Armenia, Artsakh will become disputed territory.

“That wrongful policy was once forced upon us by Levon Ter-Petrosyan
when the Armenian National Movement was the ruling party. Some months
earlier, that policy was forced upon us by the leaders of Karabakh
Committee, who after the adoption of the December 1, 1989 decision on
reunification of Soviet Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh began to fight
against the adoption of that decision,” said the political scientist.

Aghayan noted that Armenia was holding a referendum of independence
and presidential elections, but the Armenian authorities of the time
did not permit to open polling stations in Artsakh, although Artsakh
had been part of Armenia for a year and a half.

“Artsakh was part of Armenia in all aspects. But as a war was
approaching and Ter-Petrosyan’s administration was sure that we will
lose the war, in order not to bear responsibility for that defeat,
they wanted to get rid of that headache as soon as possible,” said
the speaker.

According to him, if there hadn’t been the decision on separating
Artsakh from Armenia, Azerbaijan’s attack on Artsakh would be perceived
as an attack on Armenia, and in that case the victory in the war would
be faster and with less losses. The responsibility for that decision
lays not only on the Armenian National Movement, but also on the ARF
Dashnaktsutyun and ARF representatives of that time in Artsakh.

“It is necessary to restore the constitutional right of the Armenian
citizens living in Artsakh to participate in the state elections in
Armenia, the right they have been deprived of since 1995 when that
criminal decision was made. Artsakh is Armenia. More than 100,000
Armenian citizens live in Artsakh. They live in Armenia. Artsakh
should be declared an integral part of Armenia,” said Armen Aghayan.

WE CAN STRIKE ALL ENEMY’S TARGETS – DEFENCE MINISTRY SPOKESMAN

News.Az
Tue 30 October 2012 12:39 GMT | 12:39 Local Time

“At present, the most modern weapons were placed on the battle-field
of the Azerbaijani Army and frontline”.

The statement came from spokesman for the Ministry of Defence, Colonel
Eldar Sabiroglu at the press conference on the frontline in Terter,
APA reports.

“To prevent the aggression of the Armenian armed forces is the main
task stands in front of us. This moment is not far away. We can’t
wait. I think that we will witness the liberation of our territories
from occupation in the near future”.

Sabiroglu underlined that Azerbaijan has carried out great works in
the recent year: “The first is armament. We purchased the most modern
weapons and can strike the all enemy’s targets with modern weapons.

The second issue is to raise fighting spirit.”

THE FORGOTTEN OF ALEPPO’S HOTEL BARON
By Flavia Amabile

12:42, October 30, 2012

‘Madame Flavia, Syria is finished, Aleppo is finished’. Armen
Mazloumian pauses, maybe following a flashing thought. An ominous
silence’s spreading all around: in Aleppo Baron Street has always been
a busy road, crowded and jammed night and day, in the very heart of
Aleppo, a five minute walk from the suq. Today it is a still street,
totally mute but for the frequent clashes in the surroundings and
for the noise of the loyalist troops headquartered nearby to protect
the area.

The Baron’s Hotel stands there, in the middle of the street as it does
since 1911, when it opened its doors. Founded by Armen Mazloumian,
the grandfather of the present owner, it gave its name to the street, a
tribute and a homage since everyone knows it: Barons’ history mirrors
Syria’s history. And everyone looks at the future of the hotel to
understand the future of the country. It was a place of culture and
power when Syria was a place of culture and power. T.H. Lawrence
would have never slept anywhere else when he came back from his tours
officially devoted to archaeological sites, actually following his
role as intelligence officer and military adviser in the Middle East.

The souvenirs of his stay at Baron’s lie in the hall on the right
just after the entrance: sheets of paper of a wrong bill, letters,
and pictures. Now the hall is closed, windows glasses were broken one
week ago by the last grenade that went off in the street. It’s almost
two years since when someone nosed around the precious showcase to
look at the tiny calligraphy of the Englishman that wanted to lead
the Arab revolt.

The opposite door opens on the Baron’s bar, a kind of a tale among
travelers in the past. Everyone stopped and astonished at its amazing
British countryside furniture. No one ever saw anything of the kind
in the very heart of Middle East.

Sunk in the armchair in the right corner Agatha Christie wrote “Murder
on The Orient-Express” during the 30s. In the following years people
came from every corner of the world to grip that peculiar touch
of the room. Today the most famous lounge hall among travelers and
archaeologists of last century is closed, barred, and its windows blown
to pieces too. ‘No one has ever tried to attack us – Armen Mazloumian
tells – loyalist troops defend the street’. But who will protect
them from bomb blasts? ‘Half of Alep fled to escape the fighting,
the suq was pillaged and sacked, the Citadel damaged’. Who had the
chance fled months ago when borders were open and streets safe. Armen
remained. The hotel leans entirely on his shoulder. Koko, his father,
the man that turned the Baron’s into one of the most charming hotels in
Middle East, passed away. Sally, his mother, is a 92 years old lady ,
mostly spent reaching for a dream never come true.

In 1945 she was a young, beautiful fleeing to leave London bombs
behind. She was looking for a free and safe land and happened in Alep
where she hoped to begin a new life, unaware that she’d meet again
the nightmare from which she was running away 60 years before.

It’s not easy to live these days in this sad town, once one of the
main center of trades on the Silk Road. Sally doesn’t get out since
long. Armen is an aging man, some serious diseases affect him and his
medicines stock is running out. He too doesn’t go out, his legs can’t
run anymore and flee to safety in case of bombings. A young boy helps
him wandering in quest for food in the few stores still open. Armen
can hardly go upstairs, to the first floor.

The most imposing rooms are located there, the ones furnished with
the fine hand-woven carpets collected by his grandfather in the
beginning of XX century. Those are the rooms where guests such as
Charles De Gaulle and Rockefeller slept. And the rooms where thousands
of Armenians were saved in those years during the genocide committed
by the Young Turks. And where were kept important documents definitely
supporting the historical reconstruction of the Armenian genocide. For
more than a century Middle East history has been parading on the
Baron Hotel’s terrace and its fate depicted Syria’s destiny.

In the next future Armen most urgent worry is to find some wooden
planks to protect the hotel’s windows from grenades that will surely
blast or where to find fuel to face the coming winter. This is Baron’s
destiny now, served with the unpleasant feeling that this could be
the last chapter of Baron’s and Syria book. “Madame Flavia, it’s all
finished”, he repeats and the same unsetting silence spreads again
all around.

(La STAMPA, October 25, 2012)