Armenian News... A Topalian... Pope's visit to Armenia

armradio.am 
POPE'S VISIT TO ARMENIA PLANNED FOR SEPTEMBER 2016
18 Feb 2016
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Pope Francis is expected to visit Armenia in September 2016,
Information Service of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin reports.

The issue was discussed today at the sitting of the Supreme Religious
Council held under the chairmanship of His Holiness Karekin II,
Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians.

The Mother See keeps in touch with the Vatican to organize the
Pope's visit. 


RFE/RL Report 
Peace With Azerbaijan, Turkey `Not Vital For Armenia'
Emil Danielyan
16.02.2016

The resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and normalization of
Turkish-Armenian relations are not a necessary condition for Armenia's
sustainable development, according to President Serzh Sarkisian.

In a speech delivered in Yerevan late last week, Sarkisian also
indicated that Armenians should not expect to have peace with
Azerbaijan and Turkey in the foreseeable future. The two Turkic
nations will remain an "impassable quagmire" for Armenia, he said.

"The notion that we will not prosper as long as the Karabakh problem
is unresolved and the Turkish blockade [of Armenia] is not lifted is
unacceptable," Sarkisian told senior government officials, lawmakers
and judges. "That is not the reason for problems with governance in
our country."

Ankara and Baku, Sarkisian stressed, have failed and will fail to
clinch unilateral Armenian concessions with their long-standing
pressure on Yerevan.

"We have been living in these conditions for 25 years," he went
on. "We have already grown accustomed and adapted to these
conditions. We do not and will not link chances of our progress with
solutions to these problems."

The issue brought up by Sarkisian was hotly debated in Armenia in
1997-1998 during the final months of President Levon Ter-Petrosian's
rule. Ter-Petrosian publicly advocated more Armenian concessions to
Azerbaijan at the time, saying that Armenia will not be able to
recover from its post-Soviet economic collapse without a Karabakh
settlement.

Sarkisian, then a minister of interior and national security, was
among key members of Ter-Petrosian's cabinet who openly challenged his
view. The resulting government infighting culminated in
Ter-Petrosian's resignation in February 1998.

Many Western policy-makers and analysts likewise asserted throughout
the 1990s that Armenia's economic development hinges on the reopening
of its borders with Azerbaijan and Turkey. They said this would make
the landlocked country far more attractive to foreign investors and
reduce high transportation costs incurred by Armenian exporters.

Yet despite the closed borders, economic growth in Armenia accelerated
in the following years, hitting double-digit rates from 2001 until the
global financial crisis of 2008-2009.

In 2006, the then head of the World Bank office in Yerevan, Roger
Robinson, admitted that the rapid growth has taken Armenia's Western
donors by surprise. Over the past decade, the donors have put the
emphasis on improvement of the domestic business environment in their
policy recommendations made to the Armenian authorities. Economic
implications of the disputes with Azerbaijan and Turkey have rarely
been mentioned by them in public statements.

In his speech, Sarkisian asserted that Yerevan remains committed to
continuing the difficult search for Karabakh peace. But, he said, the
Karabakh Armenians' right to self-determination -- a euphemism for
international recognition of their secession from Azerbaijan -- must
be the key element of a peace deal.

By contrast, Baku insists on a restoration of Azerbaijani control over
Karabakh. The Turkish government backs this stance, making such a
settlement a precondition for establishing diplomatic relations with
Armenia and opening the Turkish-Armenian border.

"At the moment, I see no possibility of any progress in relations with
Turkey," said Sarkisian.

"We must come to the terms with the fact that we have no real partners
east of [the Karabakh towns of] Martakert and Martuni and west of
Gyumri and Armavir (Armenian towns close to the Turkish border) # Let
us think that there is a bottomless and impassable quagmire over
there," concluded the Armenian president. 

RFE/RL Report 
Armenian Quarters Of Aleppo Rocked By Heavy Fighting
Naira Bulghadarian
17.02.2016

Armenian-populated areas of Aleppo have reportedly sustained more
damage in recent days as Syrian government troops have continued their
Russian-backed offensive in and around Syria's largest city partly
controlled by rebels.

Local residents spoke on Wednesday of continuing fierce fighting going
on near those neighborhoods mostly controlled by forces loyal to
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Aleppo was home to the majority of an estimated 80,000 ethnic
Armenians who lived in Syria until the outbreak of the bloody civil
war five years ago. Only up to 10,000 of them reportedly remain in the
war-ravaged country now. Many are said to be unable to flee the war
zone or simply have nowhere to go.

Fighting in and around Aleppo intensified early this month as Assad's
troops backed by Russian warplanes began making major gains, sending
tens of thousands of Syrians fleeing towards the Turkish border.

"The army has laid siege to those [rebel-held] areas and is now trying
to liberate Aleppo from those armed groups," Zarmig Boghigian, the
editor of the local Armenian newspaper "Kantsasar," told RFE/RL's
Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) by phone.

"The fighting is very close to the Armenian neighborhoods," she
said. "There are terrible clashes involving rocket fire. They are so
close that the population here can see gas shells fired by [rebel]
fighters."

Boghigian confirmed that rebel fire at the weekend seriously damaged a
clinic run by an Armenian charity and an Armenian school in the
predominantly Christian Nor Kyugh district. A 32-year-old Armenian
man, Viken Vosgerichian, was reportedly killed there late last week.

"There is a lot of shelling. They fire a lot of mortar shells towards
Nor Kyugh," a Syrian Armenian woman told her Yerevan-based uncle,
Petros Kirazian, Wednesday in a phone conversation heard by an RFE/RL
correspondent.

Kirazian, who fled Syria three years ago, said he is now trying to
help his brother's family leave Aleppo. "I've sent them money so that
they can get passports and come to Armenia," he said.

According to government data, there were around 16,000 Syrian Armenian
refugees in Armenia as of last fall. Officials in Yerevan said more
than 2,000 of them fled to their ancestral homeland following another
upsurge in fighting in Aleppo in May 2015.

The Armenian government faced last year growing domestic calls for the
evacuation of the remaining Armenians in Syria. The government made
clear then that it will not encourage them to leave Syria en masse
without the consent of the leadership of their shrinking
community. The latter has been opposed to such an exodus until now.

"Some people are too old to be able to get out of Aleppo," explained
Lena Shamlian, a Syrian Armenian living in Yerevan. "Others are too
attached to their homes. There are also those who get pensions and
feel that they won't be able to support themselves if they leave."

Mayda Bakkalian, a 60-year-old woman, is one of the elderly Armenians
stranded in Aleppo. She said on Wednesday that there are virtually no
Armenians left in her neighborhood.

"In the past, when I would go out into the street I would see a
hundred Armenians before reaching my mother's home," Bakkalian told
RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) by phone."Now I may not see a
single Armenian. Many of them are gone."

"We've had no running water for one and a half months," she said. "The
people have forgotten about electricity, heating and shower." 


arka.am 
ARMENIA LOSES SOME OF ITS TRADITIONAL TRADE PARTNERS
YEREVAN, February 17. /ARKA/. Along with losing some of its traditional
trade partners, Armenia has found new ones, economist Vilen Khachatryan
said today.

According to him, Armenia's trade partnerships in 2015 were aimed at
the Asian markets, as evidenced by the official statistics, which shows
a reduction of foreign trade turnover with former Soviet republics
and the European Union and an increase in trade turnover with China
and other Asian countries.

He argued that trading with Asian countries may benefit Armenia more
than trading with European countries or Russia, 'because in the
post-crisis period Asian countries were able to not only survive,
but also ensure economic growth in contrast to Europe."

However, despite the decline in trade with Russia, the latter remains
Armenia's major trade partner.

According to the National Statistical Service, Armenia's foreign
trade turnover in 2015 fell by 20.6% from 2014 to about $4.75 billion.

Exports declined by 3.9% to about $1.5 billion, while imports fell
by 26.5% to about $3.254 billion. The decline in exports was largely
due to a 25.3% drop in exports to CIS member countries and a 5.2%
drop to the EU.

Armenia's trade with CIS countries in 2015 fell by almost 20% to about
$1.38 billion, making 29.1% of the total foreign trade. Trade with
Russia declined by 18% to $1.173.9 billion. Trade with EU countries
decreased by 23.7% to about $1.220.6 billion and trade with China
slashed by 18% to $481.3 million. -0- 


armnenianweekly.com 
A GENERATION OF SILENCE: WHY ARMENIAN SCHOOLS 

MATTER
By Sevana Panosian on February 17, 2016 
'Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.' - Ludwig
Wittgenstein

The Armenian Diaspora is slowly raising a generation of silence.

This statement may come as a shock, but it stems from the philosopher
and linguist Ludwig Wittgenstein's treatise on language where he
states, "The limits of my language mean the limits of my world."

I remember learning about his theories in graduate school while
studying other linguistic theorists like Mikhael Bakhtin, but these
words entered the "where are they now" files of my musings and
memory until I heard my older daughter correct my younger daughter
as she spoke about the importance of being Armenian and her pride
in balancing her ability to code switch not only between English and
Armenian, but also between Western and Eastern Armenian.

As an AP English Literature and Composition teacher, I focus on
language and the ability for my high school students to code switch
between different vernaculars and "registers" in English, and every
time I teach them, I reflect on my daughters' ability to the do the
same in Armenian. I am proud, I am glad, and I am assured, again and
again, that sending them to an Armenian school has not been about the
idealistic "maintenance" of an ancient, archaic language, neither
has it been about the stubborn attempt to battle the assimilation
of a culture--assimilation is an inevitability and, quite frankly,
a necessary skill as the global world expands and contracts. The
magnitude of the decision to send my daughters to an Armenian school
comes, quite simply, through the acceptance of Wittgenstein's theory
that if they do not learn to speak, read, and write Armenian, they
will be limited and hampered in the development of knowing themselves
and where they fit in this world.

For years I have been questioned by parents, peers, and friends who
are overwhelmed with the decision to send their child to Armenian
day school. After all, it is a commitment with social, economic,
and personal repercussions that are, indeed, long term. Will my
child make it? Will my child be successful? Will my child be happy
and, will s/he be able to compete with the "super kids" during the
current crisis of "super kid syndrome." I've even had discussions
with parents who feel that they want their child to be bilingual,
but would like them to speak a more "relevant" language. These are
all understandable arguments that are logical and most definitely of
importance. There are too many answers for so many questions. However,
educational theorists know one constant: that children who are immersed
in culturally relevant, academically rigorous, socially sensitive,
and loving schools do better. Period. The empirical data trumps any
trends or hearsay.

However, I'd like to entertain one more idea, and this stems from
multiple observations I have made in my immediate community in the
Bay Area--observations as simple as noticing that our Armenian church
deacons who are under 25 are all graduates of Armenian schools because,
quite frankly, it's not just about being able to read or speak,
it's about immersion.

I must be one of the lucky ones, although I didn't have the luxury
to attend an Armenian school (there was a Saturday school when I
grew up). My father always told me that if I don't speak Armenian,
I can't think in Armenian. Their generation made sure that I had three
hours of Armenian school with Armenian teachers in a formal classroom
setting while also making sure I performed in many of the cultural
programs the school sponsored. Paregentan, Dzenunt, Vartanants,
and other holidays were celebrated with educational programs at
school. By having a strong sense of our identity, we inevitably
had an easier and more secure time interacting with the numerous
cultures our diverse city offers. In San Francisco, we didn't have
the ability to be fully immersed in a community like Tehran, Beirut,
Aleppo, or even Glendale where we could, miraculously, adapt to an
Armenian community, so we were able to be malleable only because we
had such a strong sense of our own identity and language.

On a side note, I have never worried that my daughter's school--KZV
Armenian School--is not rigorous enough to compete with any of the best
schools in the Bay Area. I am profoundly impressed with the caliber
of the instruction in technology, science, mathematics, English,
and other content areas. Instruction is scaffolded, is one-on-one,
culturally relevant, and integrated through close relationships. The
educational "three R's" are evident and part of the school's culture
and methodology. This article is not about that. However, after having
my child's parent conference with her Armenian language teacher,
I came home and remembered Wittgenstein's theory on language and
its profound impact on my children, and its inevitable impact on the
future of our diaspora.

I would like to invite parents to begin thinking about the following:
If we don't immerse our children into Armenian communities and also
base our children in rigorous instruction of Armenian language,
reading, writing, and culture, we will have a generation of Armenians
who will, as Wittgenstein stated, be silent. Furthermore, if we don't
make the explicit decision and commitment to maintain our language,
we will, indeed, limit a dynamic generation who will be shackled by
their limited understanding of themselves. As Wittgenstein stated,
"The limits of my language mean the limits of my world." 


arka.am 
ARMENIAN CITIZENS WILL NOT BENEFIT FROM ANTICIPATED 

DROP IN PRICE OF RUSSIAN NATURAL GAS
YEREVAN, February 17. /ARKA/. In all likelihood Armenian citizens
will not benefit from the anticipated drop in the price of Russian
natural gas, an economist Vilen Khachatryan said today.

In mid-January, Armenia's authorities asked their Russian counterparts
to lower the price for the natural gas imported to Armenia. The sides
are said to be continuing the talks on this issue.

According to Khachatryan, the dramatic drop in oil price urges a
review of all contracts for the supply of Russian energy resources
in Armenia, however, the Armenian-Russian agreement on gas supplies
preconditions specific usage terms, which make it difficult to reduce
the tariffs for the households.

"The population is dwindling, and one of the reasons is labor
migration. Caused by hard conditions many households are trying to
cut the amount of gas. This brings about the payment problem. As a
result, even if the price of Russian gas is lowered for Armenia the
households will not feel it, " Khachatryan said.

According to him, Russians have their own interests and therefore,
they may or may not reduce the price.

Russia's Gazprom that supplies about 80 percent of Armenia's gas,
lowered the tariff from $190 to $165 per thousand cubic meters
less than a year ago, however, the move did not translate into
corresponding retail price reductions for Armenian households and
corporate consumers. In 2015, Armenia imported 1.9 billion cubic
meters of Russian gas, by 6.8% less than in 2014.

The gas pipeline between Armenia and Iran was commissioned in 2007. In
return for Iranian gas Armenia ships electricity to Iran--3 kWh for
one cubic meters of gas. In 2014 Armenia received 383 million cubic
meters of Iranian gas at $189 for 1,000 cubic meters.

The Iranian gas is not sold to households or enterprises; it is
converted into electricity by the Yerevan thermal power plant and
much of it is shipped back to Iran. The pipeline's maximum capacity
is estimated at 2 billion cubic meters per year. -0- 

armradio.am 
LIONS OF GYUMRI ZOO IN ARMENIA RESCUED
18 Feb 2016
Siranush Ghazanchyan

WVS (the Worldwide Veterinary Service) along with its partners has
successfully rescued the Gyumri Zoo lions. The Worldwide Veterinary
Service (WVS) is a UK registered charity that provides a sustainable
veterinary resource to assist animal charities throughout the world.

>From disaster emergency response to training and education, our
aim is to provide a fast action veterinary response to charities and
animals in need.

Last week, the Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural
Assets (FPWC) in collaboration with the Worldwide Veterinary Service
(WVS) organised the rescue of the Gyumri Zoo lioness Mery and her cubs
Zita and Gita to the Caucasus Wildlife Refuge, a privately protected
area managed by the FPWC.

Named "The World's Saddest Zoo" by the Daily Mail, these beautiful
animals were living in unbearable conditions, cramped in small dirty
cages, displaying all the signs of creatures slowly being driven mad
by their unnatural existence. These animals were starving, barely
surviving only on scraps fed to them through bars by kind volunteers.

WVS quickly identified that swift action was required and despite
the difficult weather conditions and snow, the transfer of the last
inhabitants of Gyumri Zoo was managed seamlessly.

The lions are in a good physical and mental state after the adventurous
experience. They are staying in heated cages until the quarantine
station has been built. They will then remain there until they are
ready to be moved to an appropriate facility outside of Armenia to
live out the rest of their lives.

Gyumri Zoo lions are now part of a larger conservation picture.

According to the memorandum signed between WVS and FPWC on February 2,
2016, the parties will work together towards in-situ conservation,
animal rehabilitation and rescue initiatives in Armenia.

The construction of this quarantine station for animals in the Caucasus
Wildlife Refuge, where the lions will be kept for vet examination
and medicinal treatment, will mark yet another point of successful
collaboration between FPWC and WVS. The quarantine station will also
be the foundation stone of the Wildlife Rescue Centre, an even larger
sustainable project the partners are currently designating.

A particular thank you to International Animal Rescue who have been
a phenomenal support in this.

It's only because of the huge tide of support that WVS have received
that this has been possible. It may only be the first step on a much
bigger journey for Mery, Gita and Zita but getting them out of the
'World's Saddest Zoo' asap was imperative and a brilliant achievement
by all the teams concerned. 

DATA CURBS EARTHQUAKE RISK IN ARMENIA
Premium Official News
February 17, 2016 Wednesday

Geneva: The United Nations office for disaster risk reduction has
issued the following news release:

In a country that suffered a devastating earthquake almost three
decades ago, private sector researchers are helping to implement the
Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction by harnessing data to
lessen the impact of future shakes.

The team members at Armenian firm Georisk spend their working days
crunching numbers to flag danger zones according to a range of
risk scenarios, offering potentially life-saving information to the
authorities down to local community level.

The Sendai Framework, a 15-year global agreement adopted last March
aims to bring about substantial reductions in global disaster deaths,
the number of affected people and economic losses. Mining data to
provide an accurate picture of the risk is a cornerstone of that drive.

Armenia, which lies on a seismic belt stretching from the Alps to
the Himalayas, is crisscrossed by fault lines. Its offers a tragic
case-study for earthquake researchers.

On 7 December 1988, a 6.8-magnitude earthquake smashed into the
northern city of Spitak and surrounding communities. The estimated
death toll was up to 50,000, while double that number are thought to
have been injured.

"We've analysed the Spitak earthquake and its consequences," said
Georisk's director, Dr. Hektor Babayan, at the company's offices in
the capital Yerevan.

"We use many types of databases. Geological, geophysical, or
infrastructure, for example. We crunch the data in Geographical
Information Systems, and produce hazard assessments, correlate
them with city scenarios, and thereby calculate potential losses,"
he explained.

When it comes to natural hazards, earthquakes are the deadliest of
all. But the tremor itself isn't the killer: the vast majority of
casualties are caused by buildings unable to withstand the shock.

That basic fact means that understanding what exactly kind of buildings
are where – and who is in them – is essential to reduce
the risks.

Georisk taps data from a variety of sources, including city
governments, planning authorities, infrastructure and utility firms,
as well as carrying out detailed fieldwork, to produce hyper-detailed
risk maps that can be adapted according to a host of scenarios.

There are also plans to deploy students from Armenia's Crisis
Management State Academy for building-by-building assessments to create
an even more detailed picture – and raise public awareness of
risk into the bargain.

"We provide five or six different types of maps, with layers," said
Dr. Babayan.

"You can see the distribution of buildings, their types, how many
floors they have, how many people are in them in the daytime or
nighttime, whether the buildings are made of stone or concrete,
and so on," he explained.

His researchers also factor in the presence of, and potential
earthquake impact on, roads, bridges, and electricity, gas and water
supplies.

"When we assess hazards we also include all secondary effects –
not only the seismic impact, but also landslides, water levels. Our
system also connects with building codes, environmental protection
issues, and so on," he said.

The Georisk team is multidisciplinary. Dr. Babayan is a mathematician
specialized in modelling, while his staff includes geophysicists and
experts in seismic technologies, among others.

The company is part of a consortium that also involves the Institute
of Geology of Armenia's Academy of Sciences, the National Association
of Seismologists, in cooperation with the country's National Platform
for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Georisk's research is also supported by the UN Development Programme
(UNDP), and is made available to those who need it.

"It's open data. If people ask for it, it's free," said Mr. Armen
Chilingaryan, UNDP's Disaster Risk Reduction Programme Coordinator.

"The results can be used for, first of all, urban resilience planning,
because the authorities will understand what are the main risk areas.

Based on this scenario they can also prepare response and population
protection plans, and develop these capacities," he added.

In addition to working with the authorities, the researchers are
also aiming to involve the private sector, such as insurance firms,
banks and mining companies.

"They are ready to invest in mitigation activities," said Mr.

Chilingaryan. "The private sector is becoming more and more interested,
and in the future they can become the main partner for risk-informed
development."