Author: nina hovnanian

PAPER: GAGIK TSARUKYAN, ROBERT KOCHARIAN’S VISIT TO MOSCOW PURSUED COMMON GOAL

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 26, 2012 – 13:30 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – According to Hraparak daily, Prosperous Armenia
party leader Gagik Tsarukyan will return to Armenia on May 28.

“By a lucky coincidence, ex-president Robert Kocharian will leave
the Russian capital for Armenia on the same day,” the daily said.

“Experts don’t rule out that the politicians met in Belarus through
mediation of the country leader Alexander Lukashenko. Tsarukyan and
Kocharian’s visit to Russia is a symbolic “token” to make the official
Moscow realize who their real allies in Armenia are, as well as,
show readiness to join the Eurasian Union with Lukashenko. Moscow
must have appreciated the effort, having allowed the party to leave
coalition,” the paper said.

ARMENIAN FLAG BLESSING AND PRAYERS FOR THE REPUBLIC ACROSS CANADA

armradio.am
26.05.2012 12:52

By the order of Archbishop Khajag Hagopian, Prelate, Prelacy churches
across Canada will offer prayers and bless the tricolor flag on the
occasion of the 94th anniversary of the first Armenian Republic and
the 21st anniversary of the current Republic of Armenia this Sunday,
May 27. Requiem service will be offered for the souls of the fallen
heroes of Sardarabad, Bashabaran, Gharakilise, and the new martyrs
of the struggle for Artsakh.

The official definition of the colors, as stated in the Constitution
of the Republic of Armenia, is: “The Red emblematizes the Armenian
Highland, the Armenian people’s continued struggle for survival,
maintenance of the Christian faith, Armenia’s independence and
freedom. The Blue emblematizes the will of the people of Armenia to
live beneath peaceful skies. The Orange emblematizes the creative
talent and hard-working nature of the people of Armenia.”

SAVE TEGHUT FORUM POSTPONED

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 12:43:02 – 26/05/2012

Saturday, May 26, Save Teghut Initiative would organize a student
forum entitled “Teghut, Mine or Life” at the American University of
Armenia. The purpose was to raise awareness of the disastrous plan
to exploit the mines under Teghut forest.

Agreement had been reached with the student board to hold the event in
Manoogian Hall free of charge. However, learning about the event two
days before the day, the management asked the student board not to
invite the media. However, the event was public so the journalists
could not be turned out. The day before the event the management
of AUA disregarded the student board and offered the initiative to
sign a rent contract to use their hall. At the close of business
the university management informed that it refused to let the hall
for Teghut forest because the relevant operational procedure was
violated besides the AUA policy is not to discuss political issues
in the university. Instead, the university management offered to rent
space at the AUA Business Center.

Save Teghut Civic Initiative thus asks the following questions:

Are the statements of some institutions and organizations on
development of a civil society pretence?

Where is the place where presumably the civil society can be developed?

How can the civil and political domains be separated to avoid their
arbitrary manipulations?

Do students have freedoms in Armenia, who are the universities for?

US SECRETARY OF STATE TO VISIT ARMENIA

tert.am
26.05.12

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will travel to Denmark, Norway,
Sweden, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey from May 31-June 7,
Victoria Nuland, the Department Spokesperson reported.

The Secretary will travel to the Caucasus from June 4 to 7. In
all these countries, she will discuss important issues of regional
security, democracy, economic development and counterterrorism.

In Armenia on June 4, the Secretary will meet with President Serzh
Sargsyan and other senior Armenian officials. She will also meet with
Armenian civil society leaders.

On June 5, the Secretary will open the U.S.-Georgia Strategic
Partnership Commission plenary session in Batumi, Georgia. She will
meet also with President Mikhail Saakashvili and hold discussions with
a broad range of political actors and civil society representatives.

The Secretary will travel on June 6 to Azerbaijan.

On June 7, the Secretary will co-chair the Global Counterterrorism
Forum Ministerial in Istanbul, Turkey and consult with senior Turkish
officials on a range of foreign policy challenges, including Syria
and Iran.

LANCEMENT D’UN SITE DEDIE AU GENOCIDE ARMENIEN EN AUSTRALIE
Stephane

armenews.com
samedi 26 mai 2012

Un site web consacre au Genocide armenien
, concu pour aider les enseigants
d’histoire en Australie a comprendre le Genocide armenien, a ete
lance au Banquet Annuel du Comite National Armenien.

Projet de la Societe Armenienne d’Histoire d’Australie (AHSA),
le site web pourvoit des ressources sur cet evenement historique,
sa pertinence en Australie et ses implications presentes.

Le Directeur de l’ANC Australie Varant Meguerditchian qui a annonce
le lancement du site a pointe l’importance du site Web.

” Ces recentes annees, des etudiants a travers le Nouveau Pays de
Galles etudiant le Genocide armenien dans le cadre de leurs programmes
d’etudes d’histoire se sont approche de notre bureau pour avoir des
ressources complementaires ” a dit M.Meguerditchian.

” Cela nous a menes a la conviction que l’education sur le genocide
est une responsabilite fondamentale des descendants de survivants du
Genocide armenien “.

< Http : // / >

ASSYRIAN, GREEK, ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MONUMENT UNVEILED IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Assyrian International News Agency

AINA Press Release
May 25 2012

Last Sunday May 20, 2012 marked the official unveiling of the Armenian,
Assyrian and Pontian Greeks genocide monument in South Australia.

The memorial was conducted by three brotherly organisations; the
Pontian Brotherhood of South Australia; the Armenian Cultural
Association of South Australia; and the Assyrian Universal
Alliance-Australian Chapter.

The genocide perpetrated against the Christian population of Anatolia
claimed the lives of one and half million Armenians, half a million
of Pontian Greeks and 750,000 Assyrians, a shameful act by the Ottoman
Empire in its final years.

Commemoration began with a mass in memory of victims of the Armenian,
Greek and Assyrian genocide which was held at St. Dimitrios Greek
Orthodox Church of Salisbury. Conducted by Bishop Nikandros of Doryleon
and Reverent Fathers Christos Tsoraklidis and Silouan Fotineas, and
was attended by more than 20 representatives from Local, State and
Federal Government.

After a blessing prayer by the bishop of Greek Orthodox Church, all
guests moved to the vicinity of the genocide monument, to start the
unveiling ceremony. The formal proceedings began with the Australian,
Greek, Armenian and the Assyrian national anthems and speeches.

Finally, the monument was unveiled with pride by representatives of the
three organizations who participated in the creation of the memorial.

Mr. Hermiz Shahen, Deputy Secretary General of the Assyrian Universal
Alliance, thanked members of the Monument Project Committee who worked
hard to bring the project to reality.

“Today’s unveiling of this extraordinary monument which honours the
victims of the Greeks, Assyrian and Armenian genocide, is a significant
event in the life of the three nations and our communities in Australia
and abroad; communities that have been established as a direct result
of the continuous assaults on their nation,” he said.

Mr. Shahen urged the Australian Federal Government, as well as to
other countries, to condemn these heinous acts committed against the
Christian citizens of Anatolia, and to pressure Turkey to acknowledge
and apologise for the atrocities its Ottoman leaders committed against
their Assyrian, Armenian and Pontic Greek citizens during World War I.

The Assyrian Universal Alliance Delegation also included; Mr David
David, President of Assyrian Australian National Federation; Mr. Ben
Jabro , Executive Board of the Assyrian Universal Alliance and Mr
Paul Azzo, Adviser to the Assyrian Universal Alliance of Australia.

Ms. Anna Volis, President of the Pontian Brotherhood of South
Australia, thanked all the government departments, institutions and
volunteers who have contributed to the success of this project and
blessed this convergence that delivered this remarkable achievement,
which was the result of the ongoing work between the three communities
of the Armenians, Pontian Greeks and Assyrians, and demanded that
our institutions abroad to follow the lead in unifying their voices
in demanding the recognition of the genocide that was perpetrated
against all Christian peoples in Anatolia by the Ottoman Turkey.

Ms Elena Harrison, President of the Armenian Cultural Association of
South Australia in her address made reference to the dramatic story
behind the construction of the Genocide Memorial in Yerevan, Armenia
and how patriotism and pain united people; when the Kremlin finally
agreed to have a Genocide Memorial built. The Soviet Union allowed
only half the finance and a short time to build such a large memorial.

Without invitation or demand people came in busloads from different
regions and cities of Armenia in order to lend a hand. Most of them
were descendants of Armenians who had lived in different regions of
Turkish Western Armenia. Whatever work they did, they did it with
pleasure and when they had nothing to do they sang patriotic songs.

They used the same indomitable spirit that helped us to survive
through the dark pages of our history.

“I can proudly say that this spirit is still alive today not just in
the Armenian community here in South Australia, but with my Pontian
Greek and Assyrian brothers and sisters,” she said.

“My hope is that this monument in Salisbury, South Australia,
will become a shrine for our three nations to remember our fallen
ancestors.”

Assyrian Universal Alliance

AZERI-VISION: THE EU’S MISGUIDED PRAGMATISM IS ENCOURAGING AUTHORITARIANISM IN AZERBAIJAN.
By Jacqueline Hale

European Voice

May 25 2012

As Azerbaijan welcomes Eurovision to its Caspian shores this weekend,
viewers and visitors should not be taken in by the government’s latest
glitzy display. More importantly, Azerbaijan, a hydrocarbon-rich
state, European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) partner, current member
of the UN Security Council, and aspirant host of the 2020 Olympics,
needs the EU more than officials in Baku – and Brussels – realise.

Insistence on energy dependence – at the cost of European values
– has straitjacketed EU foreign policy in the Caspian. The EU has
subordinated its broader ENP agenda to the goals of energy security and
diversification. Five years on from Azerbaijan’s inclusion in the ENP,
despite advances in energy co-operation, significant backsliding has
occurred around the jointly agreed ENP values agenda, which includes
democracy and respect for human rights.

International indexes characterise Azerbaijan as highly corrupt,
authoritarian, and generally ‘not free’. While the EU spells out
human-rights obligations on paper through its ENP, a parallel agenda
is revealed by trips to Baku by Jose Manuel Barroso, the European
Commission’s president, and by Gunther Oettinger, the European energy
commissioner, and a separate memorandum of understanding on energy
policy. Amid quiet diplomacy and presidential handholding, the Caspian
state’s crackdown on independent journalists, human-rights activists,
and opposition forces have not been met with any EU censure – in
stark contrast to the EU’s approach to energy-poor Belarus.

Much of the inconsistency between the EU’s ‘values’ rhetoric and its
actions is driven by official insistence that the EU has ‘no leverage’
to push for change. This is both an excuse and a strategic blunder.

With 500 million people in its borders, the EU has considerable clout
as an energy consumer. Azerbaijan remains a largely undiversified
economy, depending on the EU market for its oil (now passing its
peak) and for its gas. In 2010, the EU accounted for over 50% of
exports from Azerbaijan. Add to this Azerbaijan’s geopolitical woes
– a still unresolved dispute with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh,
increasingly poor relations with Iran, and a perceived imbalance
(in Armenia’s favour) of Russia’s relations in the region – and it
becomes clear why Brussels and other European capitals have been the
targets of aggressive PR and lobbying by the Azeri government.

The Arab Spring brought into sharp relief how the pursuit of energy
and commercial deals at the expense of human rights can cause enormous
reputational and political damage to the EU. Although the government
of Azerbaijan must take primary responsibility for its ‘nul points’ in
the field of human rights and democracy, the EU is not without blame.

Azerbaijan has had little incentive to create a more open society
in the face of an EU foreign energy policy premised on engagement
without red lines or negative policy consequences. By contrast, it is
the EU that is set to lose out – as a norms-based, soft-power actor –
if it fails to live up to, and demand, governance and transparency
in dealings between Europe, its companies, and the Azeri government.

Doing business now and dealing with human rights and governance
standards later has an impact on more than EU values. It also makes
poor financial sense. Companies opting to leave rentier states –
as Azerbaijan’s is – due to corruption attest to this.

Principled negotiations by the EU rather than misguided pragmatism
could help reverse this trend of casual authoritarianism in Azerbaijan.

The ENP review – with its emphasis on partnering societies and the
‘more for more’ approach – sets a much better tone. By awarding
greater and broader EU support to committed reformers in the EU’s
southern and eastern neighbourhood it addresses those groups from
Tunisia to Azerbaijan that are looking to the EU to set standards.

Newly empowered EU delegations and embassies are best placed to
deliver this, through intensifying their networks and outreach.

Crucial oil and mining transparency legislation due to be adopted in
Brussels this summer will also offer a chance for Azerbaijan’s citizens
to hold their government to account for the use of oil revenues.

As criticism of Azerbaijan increases ahead of Eurovision, it is
clear that the government there is not impervious to censure. The
EU retains the power to confer, and withdraw, what Azerbaijan craves
most – international legitimacy. Now let this legitimacy be earned,
not bought.

Jacqueline Hale is a senior policy analyst on EU external relations
for the Open Society Institute in Brussels.

ARMENIAN OPPOSITION DOES NOT RULE OUT COOPERATION WITH PROSPEROUS ARMENIA

news.am
May 25, 2012 | 17:38

YEREVAN. – Merely the fact that Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) takes
no portfolio, it becomes opposition. However, it is PAP to decide
on its attitude towards the opposition, Armenian National Congress
(ANC) coordinator Levon Zurabyan said on Friday commenting on the
PAP’s withdrawal from the coalition.

“ANC leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan used to say [before the parliamentary
elections] that if the PAP abandons ruling regime and Armenia’s
second President Robert Kocharyan, it is possible to cooperate with
the party on controlling elections,” Zurabyan said.

Zurabyan stressed that the ANC-PAP cooperation within joint headquarter
format brought forward the collapse of coalition.

Regarding the circulated rumors that Kocharyan has influenced PAP’s
decision, Zurabyan said he does not share this viewpoint.

STATE DEPT. AGAIN UNDERMINES PROSPECTS FOR KARABAKH RESOLUTION

asbarez
Friday, May 25th, 2012

US State Department
Annual Human Rights Report seeks to prejudice the outcome of
international status and security talks

WASHINGTON-The State Department, in its recently released annual report
on human rights, undermined prospects for a negotiated settlement of
the very status and security issues it is helping to mediate regarding
Nagorno Karabakh, by again seeking to pre-judge the final status of
Nagorno Karabakh in accord with Baku’s undemocratic demands, reported
the Armenian National Committee of America.

The annual report, in language reflected in both its sections
on Armenia and Azerbaijan, asserts that: “Ethnic Armenian
separatists, with Armenia’s support, continued to control most of
the Nagorno-Karabakh region of the country and seven surrounding
Azerbaijani territories.”

“With a short sentence, remarkably long on errors of both fact and
bias, the State Department risks rolling back the cause of democracy
and self-determination a half a century or more,” said Aram Hamparian,
Executive Director of the ANCA. “By this standard, few if any of the
more than 80 states that have joined the U.N. over the past fifty years
would have been allowed entry into the community of free nations.”

4TH NATIONAL AWARDING IN THE SPHERE OF FASHION AND DESIGN HELD

ARMENPRESS
25 May, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS: The 4th national awarding of fashion and
design was held May 25 in the foyer of the government’s sessions hall.

Fashion designers from Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh, Russia and Turkey
presented their collections during the show exhibition organized
within Yerevan Fashion Week, Armenpress’ correspondent reports.

Turkey’s representative is Julia Mutlo of Armenian descent, who
presented an exhibition of Armenian national uniforms based on the
photos of Armenian provinces.

Founder of “Yerevan Fashion Week” Arman Antonyan told “Armenpress”
that their goal is to conduct the festival every year or twice a year.

“The festival will promote consolidation of the Armenian fashion,
revelation of new names. It is also an assessment to the professional
fashion designers,” he noted.

During 10 and more years numerous professional fashion designers and
over 200 undergraduates have participated in the exhibition.

Honorary guests and participants from a number of countries —
businessmen, ambassadors, political figures, artists and leading mass
media, were invited to the Armenian fashion festival.