Armenian News... A Topalian - Karabakh Ceasefire All But Dead, Says Yerevan Sisak Gabrielian
Casanova - the Armenian
RFE/RL Report
Karabakh Ceasefire All But Dead, Says Yerevan
Sisak Gabrielian
22.12.2015
The two-decade-long ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh has essentially come
to an end, Armenia's Defense Ministry said on Tuesday, pointing to
increasingly serious skirmishes in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict
zone.
"We don't have a peace there. What we have is relative calm," the
ministry spokesman, Artsrun Hovannisian, told reporters.
"This is a war, and I would ask you to use the term `war' and not to
use the phrase `ceasefire violation' because, in effect, we don't have
a ceasefire anymore," he said.
The Armenian and Azerbaijani militaries have suffered this year the
largest number of casualties since a Russian-brokered truce stopped
their full-scale war for Karabakh in 1994. Exchanges of mortar fire on
their main frontline around the disputed territory appear to have been
a daily occurrence in recent months.
Fighting there intensified further on the eve of last Saturday's
meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents held in Bern,
Switzerland. About a dozen soldiers from both sides have died over the
past week. According to the Armenian military, the Azerbaijani side
has started using tanks and howitzers for the first time since 1994.
Hovannisian described the Azerbaijani recourse to increasingly heavy
artillery as a "desperate step" resulting from Baku's failure to gain
a strategic advantage over the Armenian side. "Why have they switched
to tank and howitzer fire?" he said. "Because during previous
incidents they killed one or two Armenian soldiers but got a tougher
response. We didn't let them do more. They failed to reach their
overall objective."
Hovannisian spoke after Karabakh's Defense Army reported a sharp drop
in the intensity of small arms and mortar fire from Azerbaijani army
positions on the night from Monday to Tuesday. The Azerbaijani Defense
Ministry claimed, by contrast, that Armenian truce violations
intensified overnight. Neither side reported fresh casualties.
Sisak Gabrielian
22.12.2015
The two-decade-long ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh has essentially come
to an end, Armenia's Defense Ministry said on Tuesday, pointing to
increasingly serious skirmishes in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict
zone.
"We don't have a peace there. What we have is relative calm," the
ministry spokesman, Artsrun Hovannisian, told reporters.
"This is a war, and I would ask you to use the term `war' and not to
use the phrase `ceasefire violation' because, in effect, we don't have
a ceasefire anymore," he said.
The Armenian and Azerbaijani militaries have suffered this year the
largest number of casualties since a Russian-brokered truce stopped
their full-scale war for Karabakh in 1994. Exchanges of mortar fire on
their main frontline around the disputed territory appear to have been
a daily occurrence in recent months.
Fighting there intensified further on the eve of last Saturday's
meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents held in Bern,
Switzerland. About a dozen soldiers from both sides have died over the
past week. According to the Armenian military, the Azerbaijani side
has started using tanks and howitzers for the first time since 1994.
Hovannisian described the Azerbaijani recourse to increasingly heavy
artillery as a "desperate step" resulting from Baku's failure to gain
a strategic advantage over the Armenian side. "Why have they switched
to tank and howitzer fire?" he said. "Because during previous
incidents they killed one or two Armenian soldiers but got a tougher
response. We didn't let them do more. They failed to reach their
overall objective."
Hovannisian spoke after Karabakh's Defense Army reported a sharp drop
in the intensity of small arms and mortar fire from Azerbaijani army
positions on the night from Monday to Tuesday. The Azerbaijani Defense
Ministry claimed, by contrast, that Armenian truce violations
intensified overnight. Neither side reported fresh casualties.
arka.am
WORLD BANK EXPECTS ARMENIA'S GDP GROWTH IN 2015
TO MAKE 3.2-3.5%
YEREVAN, December 23. The World Bank expects Armenia's GDP
growth in 2015 to make 3.2-3.5% and drop to 2.2% in 2016, Laura E.
Bailey, the World Bank's Country Manager for Armenia, told reporters
on Wednesday. She added, however, that the final figures for 2015
will be available in March 2016.
At the same time, she stressed that for the first time World Bank's
forecast for the country's economic growth in 2016 coincided with
the expectations of the government that also projected a 2.2% of GDP
growth for the next year.
She said according to World Bank's forecasts, Armenia's economic
expansion in the next three years will be ranging from 2% to 3%,
while in 2017 it is expected to be 2.6-2.7%. According Ms. Bailey,
these projections are not static and can be changed depending on the
market situation.
According to her, the positive trend recorded in Armenia's economy
this year was contributed not only by the agrarian sector that saw
a substantial growth, but also by the situation in the main export
markets of Armenia.
She said in September, the World Bank had predicted a higher GDP
growth for 2016 - 2.7%, but with the influence of external factors,
including the slow recovery of the Russian economy and the decline
in prices for petroleum products the outlook had been revised downward.
According to official data, in the first 9 months of 2015 Armenian
GDP grew by 3.5%. The government's projection for the year is 4.1%. -0-
armenpress.am
FIRST ARMENIAN CROSS-STONE INSTALLED IN JAPAN
23 December, 2015
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 23. Peace cross-stone (Armenian:
khachkar) was installed in the territory of Japan's International
Christian University on December 22 at the initiative of the Embassy
of Armenia to Japan, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide. As "Armenpress" was informed by the Department of
Press, Information and Public Relations of Armenia Foreign Ministry,
the cross stone opening ceremony was attended by representatives
of social and cultural structures, lecturers of the university,
students, representatives of the Armenian community. Armenia Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to Japan
H.E. Mr. Grant R. Pogosyan, President of the International Christian
University Junko Hibiya and Chair of the university's Board of Trustees
Kakutaro Kitashiro gave speeches during the opening ceremony.
They particularly emphasized in their speeches that the erection of
the first Armenian cross-stone in Japan is symbolic and significant,
taking into account that it was being realized by a country which was
the first to adopt Christianity as the state religion. It was also
noted that the erection of the peace cross-stone is the testimony of
continuity and strengthening of the Armenian-Japanese relations.
arka.am
LEVEL OF WATER IN LAKE SEVAN RISES 8 CENTIMETERS
YEREVAN, December 23. On December 21, the level of water in
Armenia's largest Lake of Sevan stood at 1,900.21 meters above sea
level, higher than at the beginning of the year when it was 1,900.13
meters, nature protection minister Aramayis Grigoryan told a news
conference today.
According to him, since 2002, the water level in the lake rose by
3.89 meters, by 0.87 meters more than stipulated by a special law on
the lake.
Grigoryan said a major reconstruction of Arpa-Sevan tunnel that brings
additional water to the lake will be over by December 2017. In 2015,
the tunnel transported 110.723 million cubic meters of water.
He said when the reconstruction of the tunnel is over the lake's
level will rise to the projected 1903.5 meters above sea level.
He also noted that in recent years the transparency of the water in
Sevan has improved making now 16 meters. "This means that in parallel
with the rise in the water level there is an effective self-cleaning",
- Grigoryan said.
According to the minister, some 167.743 million cubic meters of water
were pumped out from the lake this year for irrigation purposes,
down from 170 million cubic meters, set by the government.
Lake Sevan is one of the largest alpine lakes in Europe and Asia,
located in the heart of the Armenian plateau at an altitude of 1914
meters. It is 70 kilometer-long and the area of its water surface is
nearly 1,500 square kilometers. The lake is a major source of fresh
water in the region.-
FIRST ARMENIAN CROSS-STONE INSTALLED IN JAPAN
23 December, 2015
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 23. Peace cross-stone (Armenian:
khachkar) was installed in the territory of Japan's International
Christian University on December 22 at the initiative of the Embassy
of Armenia to Japan, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide. As "Armenpress" was informed by the Department of
Press, Information and Public Relations of Armenia Foreign Ministry,
the cross stone opening ceremony was attended by representatives
of social and cultural structures, lecturers of the university,
students, representatives of the Armenian community. Armenia Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to Japan
H.E. Mr. Grant R. Pogosyan, President of the International Christian
University Junko Hibiya and Chair of the university's Board of Trustees
Kakutaro Kitashiro gave speeches during the opening ceremony.
They particularly emphasized in their speeches that the erection of
the first Armenian cross-stone in Japan is symbolic and significant,
taking into account that it was being realized by a country which was
the first to adopt Christianity as the state religion. It was also
noted that the erection of the peace cross-stone is the testimony of
continuity and strengthening of the Armenian-Japanese relations.
arka.am
LEVEL OF WATER IN LAKE SEVAN RISES 8 CENTIMETERS
YEREVAN, December 23. On December 21, the level of water in
Armenia's largest Lake of Sevan stood at 1,900.21 meters above sea
level, higher than at the beginning of the year when it was 1,900.13
meters, nature protection minister Aramayis Grigoryan told a news
conference today.
According to him, since 2002, the water level in the lake rose by
3.89 meters, by 0.87 meters more than stipulated by a special law on
the lake.
Grigoryan said a major reconstruction of Arpa-Sevan tunnel that brings
additional water to the lake will be over by December 2017. In 2015,
the tunnel transported 110.723 million cubic meters of water.
He said when the reconstruction of the tunnel is over the lake's
level will rise to the projected 1903.5 meters above sea level.
He also noted that in recent years the transparency of the water in
Sevan has improved making now 16 meters. "This means that in parallel
with the rise in the water level there is an effective self-cleaning",
- Grigoryan said.
According to the minister, some 167.743 million cubic meters of water
were pumped out from the lake this year for irrigation purposes,
down from 170 million cubic meters, set by the government.
Lake Sevan is one of the largest alpine lakes in Europe and Asia,
located in the heart of the Armenian plateau at an altitude of 1914
meters. It is 70 kilometer-long and the area of its water surface is
nearly 1,500 square kilometers. The lake is a major source of fresh
water in the region.-
larger.am
ARMENIAN ECONOMIST CARLOS MELCONIAN BECOMES
PRESIDENT OF NATIONAL BANK OF ARGENTINA
24 December 2015
The Armenian economist Carlos Melconian was appointed President of
the National Bank of Argentina on Wednesday December 23 according to
Prensa Armenia.
Stressing that the Bank of Argentina "will take a more prominent
role as a development bank," Melconian began his tenure after being
appointed by newly elected Argentine President Mauricio Macri.
In the 1980s, Melconian worked in the Central Bank of Argentina and
then as a private consultant at the World Bank, among others.
RFE/RL Report
Russia, Armenia Upgrade Joint Air Defense
Emil Danielyan
23.12.2015
Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian thanked Russia for its "huge" military
assistance to Armenia as the two allied countries formally set up a
new Russian-Armenian air defense system on Wednesday.
Ohanian and his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoygu signed an agreement
on the creation of the "united regional system of air defense in the
Caucasus region of collective security" after talks held in
Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized his government to
sign the deal in October.
The Russian and Armenian militaries have been jointly protecting
Armenia's airspace ever since the mid-1990s. Their integrated air
defense system was given a "regional" status by the Russian-led
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in 2007.
Around that time, the Russian military trained Armenian officers to
operate S-300 anti-aircraft systems. Some Armenian defense analysts
suggested that Moscow is keen to extend the geographic span of the
joint air defenses to the entire South Caucasus. Those consist of not
only Armenian and Russian anti-aircraft weapons but also more than a
dozen MiG-29 fighter jets that are part of the Russian military base
in Armenia.
It is not yet clear how the new "regional system" will differ from the
existing one and whether it will operate within the framework of the
CSTO. Russia has already created such systems with Belarus and
Kazakhstan and is reportedly planning to sign similar deals with the
two other CSTO member states: Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
The deal signed in Moscow underscored Russia's close military ties
with Armenia. They have enabled Armenia to receive large quantities of
Russian weapons at discount prices or free of charge.
A statement by the Russian Defense Ministry quoted Ohanian as telling
Shoygu: "I want to thank you for the huge assistance which you have
provided in terms of military-technical cooperation and supplies of
military items. They are very important to us."
"I must say that thanks to your efforts and efforts by Russian
military officials -- our friends -- 2015 has been a special year,"
said Ohanian.
According to the statement, Shoygu said, for his part, that Russia and
Armenia have fully implemented a 2015 plan of bilateral military
cooperation. He said it included the conduct of joint military
exercises and an "additional enrollment" of Armenian cadets and
officers in Russian military academies.
In June 2015, the Russian government provided Yerevan with a $200
million loan that will be spent on the purchase of more Russian-made
weapons for Armenia's armed forces. Shortly afterwards, a Russian
official revealed that the two sides are negotiating on the delivery
of advanced Russian Iskander-M missiles to the Armenian army.
With a firing range of up to 500 kilometers, the Iskander-M systems
would have significant implications for the military balance in the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. They would make Azerbaijan's vital oil and
gas infrastructure even more vulnerable to Armenian missile strikes in
the event of a renewed war for Karabakh. Russia has not exported such
missiles to any foreign state so far.
While remaining committed to the military alliance with Russia,
Armenian leaders have been increasingly critical of Moscow's arms
deals with Baku. The Azerbaijani military has received at least $4
billion worth of Russian weapons since 2010.
"The fact that Russia sells weapons to Azerbaijan for various reasons
worries us," President Serzh Sarkisian said in March.
Incidentally, Shoygu on Wednesday also received Azerbaijan's Defense
Minsiter Zakir Hasanov, who was visiting Moscow to take part in a
meeting of the defense chiefs of ex-Soviet states. According to the
Azerbaijani APA news agency, the two men signed a plan of joint
activities by the Russian and Azerbaijani militaries for 2016.
The Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately issue a statement on
Shoygu's talks with Hasanov.
24 December 2015
The Armenian economist Carlos Melconian was appointed President of
the National Bank of Argentina on Wednesday December 23 according to
Prensa Armenia.
Stressing that the Bank of Argentina "will take a more prominent
role as a development bank," Melconian began his tenure after being
appointed by newly elected Argentine President Mauricio Macri.
In the 1980s, Melconian worked in the Central Bank of Argentina and
then as a private consultant at the World Bank, among others.
RFE/RL Report
Russia, Armenia Upgrade Joint Air Defense
Emil Danielyan
23.12.2015
Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian thanked Russia for its "huge" military
assistance to Armenia as the two allied countries formally set up a
new Russian-Armenian air defense system on Wednesday.
Ohanian and his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoygu signed an agreement
on the creation of the "united regional system of air defense in the
Caucasus region of collective security" after talks held in
Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized his government to
sign the deal in October.
The Russian and Armenian militaries have been jointly protecting
Armenia's airspace ever since the mid-1990s. Their integrated air
defense system was given a "regional" status by the Russian-led
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in 2007.
Around that time, the Russian military trained Armenian officers to
operate S-300 anti-aircraft systems. Some Armenian defense analysts
suggested that Moscow is keen to extend the geographic span of the
joint air defenses to the entire South Caucasus. Those consist of not
only Armenian and Russian anti-aircraft weapons but also more than a
dozen MiG-29 fighter jets that are part of the Russian military base
in Armenia.
It is not yet clear how the new "regional system" will differ from the
existing one and whether it will operate within the framework of the
CSTO. Russia has already created such systems with Belarus and
Kazakhstan and is reportedly planning to sign similar deals with the
two other CSTO member states: Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
The deal signed in Moscow underscored Russia's close military ties
with Armenia. They have enabled Armenia to receive large quantities of
Russian weapons at discount prices or free of charge.
A statement by the Russian Defense Ministry quoted Ohanian as telling
Shoygu: "I want to thank you for the huge assistance which you have
provided in terms of military-technical cooperation and supplies of
military items. They are very important to us."
"I must say that thanks to your efforts and efforts by Russian
military officials -- our friends -- 2015 has been a special year,"
said Ohanian.
According to the statement, Shoygu said, for his part, that Russia and
Armenia have fully implemented a 2015 plan of bilateral military
cooperation. He said it included the conduct of joint military
exercises and an "additional enrollment" of Armenian cadets and
officers in Russian military academies.
In June 2015, the Russian government provided Yerevan with a $200
million loan that will be spent on the purchase of more Russian-made
weapons for Armenia's armed forces. Shortly afterwards, a Russian
official revealed that the two sides are negotiating on the delivery
of advanced Russian Iskander-M missiles to the Armenian army.
With a firing range of up to 500 kilometers, the Iskander-M systems
would have significant implications for the military balance in the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. They would make Azerbaijan's vital oil and
gas infrastructure even more vulnerable to Armenian missile strikes in
the event of a renewed war for Karabakh. Russia has not exported such
missiles to any foreign state so far.
While remaining committed to the military alliance with Russia,
Armenian leaders have been increasingly critical of Moscow's arms
deals with Baku. The Azerbaijani military has received at least $4
billion worth of Russian weapons since 2010.
"The fact that Russia sells weapons to Azerbaijan for various reasons
worries us," President Serzh Sarkisian said in March.
Incidentally, Shoygu on Wednesday also received Azerbaijan's Defense
Minsiter Zakir Hasanov, who was visiting Moscow to take part in a
meeting of the defense chiefs of ex-Soviet states. According to the
Azerbaijani APA news agency, the two men signed a plan of joint
activities by the Russian and Azerbaijani militaries for 2016.
The Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately issue a statement on
Shoygu's talks with Hasanov.
ARMENIAN GENOCIDE: ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF EXILE
Channel 4 News
Dec 24 2015
A hundred years after the Armenian genocide, filmmaker Diana Markosian
found two survivors who witnessed deportation, death, and denial of
the events of 1915. Together they journeyed back to the past.
I was never interested in pursuing work on the Armenian genocide. When
I started this project, it was still just a vague historical
narrative. I knew that, in 1915, the Ottomans initiated a policy of
deportation and mass murder to destroy their Armenian population. And
that, by the First World War's end, more than a million people were
eliminated from what is now modern-day Turkey. But I had no idea of
the personal toll the genocide exacted on my own family, or the sense
of connection I would slowly come to feel through making this piece.
I am Armenian, but I was born in Moscow and raised in America. For
most of my life, I struggled with my Armenian identity, partly because
of the history one inherits. It is something I understood but never
fully embraced. Then a year ago, I happened to be in Armenia when a
foundation approached me, requesting help in finding the remaining
genocide survivors. I pursued voter registrations online to see who
was born before 1915, and then traveled cross-country to find them.
That's how I met Movses and Yepraksia, who lived past their hundredth
year.
When I met them, they shared with me memories of their early homes.
Movses was born in the village of Kebusie in Musa Dagh Mountain not far
from the Syrian border. Yepraksia lived in a small village near Kars
on the Armenian border. They hadn't seen their home since escaping a
century ago. I wanted in some way reunite each of the survivors with
their homeland. I decided to travel back Turkey to re-trace their
last memories.
When I told the survivors I would be visiting their native land,
each one asked me to fulfill a wish. Movses, from Musa Dagh, drew
a map of his village, and asked me to find his church and leave his
portrait on the footsteps of what are now ruins. He hadn't seen his
home in 98 years. In his village, I found everything he had described
to me: the sheep, the fruit he remembered eating, and the sea. I even
found the ruins of what was once his church. Yepraksia, from a small
village in Kars, asked me to help her find her older brother who she
separated from after 1915.
Once I returned to Armenia, I created billboard-sized images of the
survivors' homelands as a way of bridging the past and present. All
these years later, upon delivering the image, the survivors grabbed on,
as if by holding the image close they would be taken back to a place
they called home many years ago. This is a story of home - everything
they had, everything they lost. And what they have found again.
Credits:
Assistant Producer: Vahe Hakobyan,
Sound Recordist: Harutyun Mangasaryan
Field Producer: Arevik Avanesyan
Colourist: Boyd Nagle
Video Editor: Andy Kemp
Filmed, Produced and Directed by Diana Markosian
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