Armenian News‏

Armenia, Turkey Schedule More Talks
By Emil Danielyan

The foreign ministers of Armenia and Turkey will meet this weekend for
the second time in just over a week in a further sign that the two
countries are close to normalizing their relations.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan was reported to say on Friday that
he will meet his Armenian counterpart Eduard Nalbandian on the sidelines
of a top-level international security conference that opened in Munich,
Germany later in the day.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry confirmed this as Nalbandian flew to
Munich with President Serzh Sarkisian.

The two ministers have met frequently in recent months, most recently in
Davos, Switzerland, last week. The talks were followed by the first-ever
meeting of President Serzh Sarkisian and Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan. Sarkisian's office said the two leaders `positively
assessed' their encounter and assigned their foreign ministers to make
`additional efforts to normalize bilateral relations.'

The office said on Friday that the Armenian president plans to meet
foreign leaders on the fringes of the Munich conference. It did not say
if Erdogan or Turkish President Abdullah Gul will be among those
leaders.

Babacan told CNN-Turk television last week that he `won't be surprised'
if Turkey establishes diplomatic relations and opens its border with
Armenia this year. According to `Hurriyet' newspaper, he will proceed to
Baku from Munich to meet Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev and Foreign
Minister Elmar Mammadyarov on Monday.

Azerbaijani leaders have watched with unease the dramatic rapprochement
between Armenia and Turkey that began shortly after Sarkisian took
office in April last year. According to some sources privy to the
Turkish-Armenian talks, Ankara is now ready to stop making the
normalization of bilateral ties conditional on a resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict acceptable to Azerbaijan. They say its main
precondition now is Armenia's acceptance of Erdogan's 2005 proposal to
set up a joint commission of historians that would look into the mass
killings and deportations of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

Sarkisian has signaled his readiness, in principle, to accept the idea
strongly opposed by influential political groups in and outside his
government. One of them, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(Dashnaktsutyun), urged Yerevan in December to exercise caution in its
dialogue with Ankara, saying that the Turks are using it to scuttle
worldwide recognition of the Armenian genocide.

Underscoring Dashnaktsutyun's concerns, a U.S. chapter of the
pan-Armenian nationalist party's youth organization has circulated an
online petition expressing `grave concern' about the recent developments
in Armenia's relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan.

`We, too, believe that Armenia can best prosper when it enjoys good
relations with its neighboring states,' reads the petition. `However,
these cannot be obtained at the expense of our national patrimony, our
national security, or our basic rights as Armenians.' It challenges the
Sarkisian administration to clarify, among other things, whether it has
agreed to the Turkish-Armenian academic study.

OSCE Envoy Sees `Good Possibility' For Karabakh Peace
By Emil Danielyan

An envoy from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
has spoken of a `good possibility' of resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict this year ahead of his upcoming fact-finding visit to the South
Caucasus.

Goran Lennmarker, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's representative on
the South Caucasus conflicts, is due to arrive in Yerevan on Monday on
the first leg of his regional tour. He will meet leaders of Armenia,
Azerbaijan and Georgia.

`I hope the result will be positive signals that the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict is on its way to a peaceful resolution, where the two
countries, Armenia and Azerbaijan, are prepared to agree on a solution
that is mutually beneficial for both of them,' Lennmarker said in an
interview posted on the assembly website late Thursday. `I think there
is a good possibility for that,' he added.

Lennmarker urged the conflicting parties to display a sense urgency in
the protracted peace process, saying that time for reaching a compromise
agreement on Karabakh may be running out. `Time is a scarce commodity,'
the Swedish parliamentarian said. `I think it's important that solutions
are reached early-on because dragging on and on, the situation on the
ground deteriorates and people have less and less hope.'

The U.S., Russian and French mediators acting under the aegis of the
OSCE Minsk Group have expressed hope that Baku and Yerevan will iron out
by July their remaining differences over the basic principles of a
Karabakh settlement proposed by the troika. The group's U.S. co-chair,
Matthew Bryza, has reportedly said that the Armenian and Azerbaijani
presidents made progress on `several key elements' of those principles
when they met in Zurich last week.

Meanwhile, the Azerbaijani military repatriated on Friday the body of
one of at least two Armenians killed in a shoot-out east of Karabakh on
January 26. The Defense Ministry in Baku said its forces killed three
Armenian soldiers and wounded several others as they repelled an attack
on their positions.

But according to Karabakh's Defense Army, the skirmish broke out after a
civilian resident of Karabakh, identified as Bad Tadevosian, `attempted
to move towards Azerbaijani positions' and was shot dead moments later.
It said that Karabakh Armenian soldiers failed to hold the man back and
that one of them was also killed in the ensuing firefight.

Some Yerevan politicians say arrest of Armenian activists on espionage charges is attempt to intimidate the minority.
By Olesya Vartanian in Tbilisi, Tamana Uchidze in Akhaltsikhe and Nelly Babaian in Yerevan

Politicians in Armenia have been angered by the arrest in Georgia late last month of two ethnic Armenians charged

with spying for Russia's secret services.

The two Armenians - Grigor Minasian and Sargis Hakobjanian - are campaigners in the Armenian community in the

southern region of Samtskhe-Javakheti, where Armenians form a majority of the population.

They were arrested on January 21, but little publicity has been given to the case.

Georgian newspapers have barely mentioned the affair, and a high-ranking official at the interior minister said officials

were deliberately not releasing a lot of material so as not to "make a lot of noise about this, as it is an isolated case of

Russian spies trying to work in Samtskhe-Javakheti".

Some Armenian politicians, however, have been furious and said the arrests were an attempt to intimidate their ethnic

kin in Georgia.

Georgia's state minister for re-integration Temur Lakobashvili said Russia had intensified espionage activities in the

country since the August war over South Ossetia.

"We have information that the Russians tried to hide their activities within non-governmental organisations. We are

talking about dozens of millions of dollars," said Lakobashvili, refusing to elaborate further.

Georgia has previously accused Russia of espionage, and the two countries fell out spectacularly in 2006 when police

arrested four Russian officers. Russia effectively blockaded Georgia as a result, even after Georgia released and

deported the men.

The lawyer for the two arrested ethnic Armenians, Nino Andriashvili, said they were accused of cooperating with a

Belarus-based organisation allegedly set up by Russia's Federal Security Service, FSB, called the Association for

Legal Assistance to the Population, ALAP.

Andriashvili said the two men had admitted being involved in espionage, but denied a secondary charge of planning

to create a private army. She said the investigators had a video of the two men discussing the creation of such an

army with the local head of ALAP, but that they had not thought he was being serious.

"Minasian and Hakobjanian came to see him in his office, and they were having a drink. And this person started to

say things like 'we are really cool, we will make a good army, we will train up some lads'. And they started to agree

with him," she said.

She said the un-named man from ALAP suggested funding three projects, including a sports hall for around

100,000 US dollars.

But some ethnic Armenians do not believe the government's story of Russian-funded treachery, saying this is an

attempt to intimidate the community whose region hosted a Russian military base until 2006.

"How many more political prisoners, uninvestigated cases and murders does this society need? God alone knows

who wanted this. It is possible that more arrests could follow this," said one man from Samtskhe-Javakheti who

knew Minasian, but who asked not to be named.

"There won't be an uprising or bloodshed, but there will definitely be protests about this."

And the local Armenians could count on support from some public figures in neighbouring Armenia, if they did

take to the streets.

Shirak Torosian, who represents the Republican Party in the Armenian parliament, said the Georgian government

needed to be told this was unacceptable.

"Now pressure from public opinion is crucial, to makethe Georgian authorities think more carefully. Otherwise,

this incident could have dangerous consequences for the region," said Torosian.

"This arrow could turn into a boomerang."

Both of the arrested men promoted the rights of the Armenian community. Minasian, 33, headed a youth

organisation and Hakobjanian, 50, campaigned on cultural issues.

Minasian's organisation also worked with the Union of Armenian Assistance, which has links to Dashnaktsutyun

(the Armenian Revolutionary Federation), a controversial nationalist party and member of Armenia's ruling coalition.

Kiro Manoian, the head of the Dashnaktsutyun office of political affairs, said the arrests were an attempt to cow

Armenians.

"The story with the arrest came at a very convenient moment to secure the attention of society and shut the mouths

of Armenians," he said.

"Georgian society is already bored of hearing about problems with Russia. Of course Armenia and the population

of [Samtskhe-Javakheti] became a convenient target to distract attention from the country's internal problems."

ALAP seems to be based in Minsk, and its website says the organisation is dedicating to promoting "peace,

education and civil society development", but has no information on the source of its funding.

Local NGOs said the organisation appeared in Samtskhe-Javakheti several months ago. In December last year,

a representative gave questionnaires to representatives of NGOs in the region. They received between 300-800

dollars if they filled them in - a lot of money in the region.

Minasian and Hakobjanian's completed questionnaires were presented as proof of their alleged espionage,

although their lawyer said none of the information they provided was a state secret.

IWPR saw one of the questionnaires and it included 20 questions related to the region, some of which were

potentially sensitive. One question concerned the resettlement of Meskhetian Turks - a people deported in Stalin's

time who have been agitating to come home ever since - while another addressed security around a pipeline being

built.

Other NGOs in the region also filled in the forms, though they realised the questions were unusual.

"We all joked that this organisation reminded us of the FSB. And we were very surprised when we found out that

they intended to spend so much money," said the head of one NGO in Samtskhe-Javakheti, who asked to remain

anonymous out of concerns that the criminal case might expand to take in other public figures.

"We were told that the possible projects were unlimited, and the money also. I have worked for many years in the

non-governmental sector. When has there ever been money like that?"

The ALAP office in central Tbilisi closed a month ago. The telephones were disconnected, and they have not

replied to emails.

Olesya Vartanian, Tamana Uchidze and Nelly Babaian are IWPR contributors.

[note St Sarkis madagh will be offered to the congregation of St Sarkis Church, Kensington, next Sunday]

Thirsting for a Mate: Tradition and faith meet on St. Sarkis Day

By By Lilit Hovhannisyan
Special to ArmeniaNow
Published: 06 February, 2009

Tonight (February 6) young Armenians who follow tradition (or who just play along), will eat

a salty cookie and hope the result will be a glimpse of their future betrothed.

The Feast of St. Sarkis comes Saturday and with it the tradition that young people who go

to bed after eating a specially-prepared salty cookie (and no water) given at twilight, will see

their future mate in a dream.

In the holiday calendar of the Armenian Apostolic Church the Feast of St. Sarkis is classified

as a movable feast – it has a moving range of 35 days. It comes with the blessing of His

Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, who proclaims the

day for youth.

On that day a mass devoted to the saint will be served in all the churches named after him.

The night devoted to the holiday is particularly lively. Many young people, among whom a

large number are girls, will go to sleep thirsty and hope their future spouse will give them

water in their dream.

“I am going to eat the salty cookie this year as I did in previous years and I expect to have

a dream with my future spouse,” says Tatevik Mirzoyan, 22, student of Theatrical Institute.

“My sister did so; she ate the cookie and saw a man in her dream who offered water to her.

The same year she got married to the man she saw in her dream.”

Many youth are attracted to the tradition year by year and it has become a lively celebration.

(The closest equivalent by secular standards is Valentine’s Day – a western tradition that

has lately become popular here, too). In actuality St. Sarkis’ holiday means more to the

Armenian Apostolic Church.

St. Sarkis was a historical personality and there is even evidence that Mesrop Mashtots

brought the saint’s relics to Armenia and kept them in the village of Ushi of Aragatsotn

province. Another relic is kept in Gougark.

Among Armenians’ most beloved saints, St. Sarkis (4th century) was believed to be a

miracle worker whose army of 40 defeated an enemy of 10,000. The legend says that

when all his soldiers were killed because of a plot, he was rescued with the help of God,

there was a big storm and he was able to escape on horseback).

Other nations also celebrate such kind of holiday, for instance, Kurds call it “Khdr Nabi,”

Assyrians call it “Mar Sargis.”

In some regions of Armenia the salty cookies are made by widows, but in the capital

young people mostly buy them at churches.

This Saturday festive events will be held in churchyards across Armenia and will include

national games and the participation of choirs, dance ensembles, and horsemen

symbolizing St. Sarkis. Araratian Patriarchal Diocese and Boghossian Parks have also

arranged a festival at – appropriately – the new Lovers’ Park in Yerevan.
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