Wednesday 30 December 2015

Armenian News... A Topalian... Tension spills into South Caucasus


Zaman, Turkey
Dec 27 2015
Turkish-Russian tension spills into South Caucasus
 MESUT ÇEVÄ°KALP / ANKARA


The South Caucasus has emerged as yet another arena for muscle-flexing
and a tug-of-war between Turkey and Russia, two countries whose
relations have sunk into mutual hostility but are still short of
actual war, with the region seeing a revival of a frozen conflict and
a shifting of regional alignments last week.

In addition to Syria, Ankara and Moscow seem set to face off in the
troubled South Caucasus, with the dispute between them leaving its
impact across the region.

Relations between Turkey and Russia took a hit after the Turkish Air
Forces (THK) shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border in
late November. Since then, the decades-old conflict between Azerbaijan
and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh has escalated, with Azerbaijan
firing from tanks for the first time since the early 1990s. Last week,
Yerevan announced that the cease-fire, which technically halted
fighting in 1994, if not totally erasing clashes, is no longer in
effect.

It is noteworthy that the armed clashes over the mountainous enclave
gathered new pace immediately after Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet
DavutoÄ?lu's visit to Azerbaijani capital Baku earlier in December.
Last week also saw a number of meetings between regional actors. The
Turkish, Georgian and Azerbaijani defense ministers held a meeting in
Turkey to discuss cooperation against regional threats. Then Russian
and Armenian defense ministers signed a treaty on Wednesday to create
a joint regional air defense system. The main target of the
cooperation was no secret.

A Russian military official told the pro-Moscow Sputnik news agency at
the time the treaty is aimed against Turkey. "In my opinion, this
decision is connected with the events in Turkey. Today, aviation plays
a major role in combat. Turkey is a NATO member and there are US
aircraft present in Turkish airfields. There is a need for a more
secure system that can keep the air borders protected and this
requires joint efforts," Sputnik quoted the former deputy commander of
Russia's Air Defense Forces, Lt. Gen. Alexander Luzan, as saying.

Russia has already sent more than a dozen new aircraft, including
advanced attack helicopters and military transport planes, to its base
near Yerevan.

Defense officials in Ankara told Today's Zaman that it is only a
matter of time before the tension over Nagorno-Karabakh relapses into
war. Watching events there with wary eyes, Turkish officials believe
that Russia has deliberately brought the tension with Turkey over the
jet dispute to the region, opening a new theater to place additional
pressure on Turkey.

Speaking to Today's Zaman, Assistant Professor Fatih Ã-zbay, a Russia
expert at Ä°stanbul Technical University, said Russia is sending a
signal to Turkey and Azerbaijan through Armenia by arming Yerevan. For
him, Russia is evidently pursuing a policy of containment against
Turkey in many regions by escalating the geographical scope of the
tension. "The Russia-Turkey dispute has already gone beyond the Syrian
theater. Turkey now faces a strategy of containment from Crimea to the
Caucasus, from Iran to Syria and the east Mediterranean. The jet
crisis has only served as a pretext; it accelerated the process," he
said.

According to Ã-zbay, Russia is drawing the lines of its geopolitical
sphere of influence in these regions against NATO and the West. Ã-zbay,
who lived in Moscow for several years, also said Russia is seeking an
opportunity to take revenge for its jet that was downed by Turkey and
is looking for opportunities for tit-for-tat reprisals. "Armenia's
defense is entirely deferred to Russia and Russian soldiers. Russia,
thirsty for revenge, will not hesitate to shoot any Turkish warplane
that accidentally enters Armenian airspace," he said. 


news.am 

Turkish historian: Something like Armenian Genocide 
s occurring in Turkey
26.12.2015


YEREVAN. ` A force that considers the Kurds an internal enemy
currently rules in Turkey, stated renowned Turkish historian AyÅ?e Hür.

Hür commented on the Turkish authorities' policy conducted in the
country's Kurdish-populated regions, and stressed that PM Ahmet
DavutoÄ?lu's statement'`We will clean up in each home''is a mafia
terminology and contains a hint of genocide, reported the Kurdish DIHA
news agency.

`The developments unrolling today [in Turkey] are similar to the 1915
Armenian Genocide,' AyÅ?e Hür said. `In 1915, the Armenians also were
in a political awakening and were making political demands, which
ended with the deportation and genocide.'


armenianow.com
FOREIGN POLICY IN 2015: GENOCIDE CENTENNIAL, 
STALLED KARABAKH SETTLEMENT, TALKS WITH EU
28.12.15


A year marking the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
brought the recognition and condemnation issue to the forefront of
not only Armenia's, but also international foreign policy agenda at
the beginning of 2015 as a number of world centers reaffirmed their
position on the Ottoman-era killings and deportations of Armenians.

The commemorations in Yerevan on April 24 were attended by four heads
of state, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President
Francois Hollande, the Serbian and Cypriot leaders, as well as other
senior state officials and dignitaries from around the world.

Before that, Pope Francis referred to the mass killings of Armenians
in Ottoman Turkey as to "the first genocide of the 20th century" in a
landmark ceremony at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican that was also
attended by Armenia's President Serzh Sargsyan and top Armenian clergy.

Remarkably, at the beginning of the year the Genocide recognition issue
was also high on the agenda in countries like Austria, Germany and
Bulgaria that were allies of the Ottoman Empire during World War One.

On December 9, upon the initiative of Armenia, the international
community for the first time officially observed the International Day
of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide
and of the Prevention of this Crime. The day has been designated as
such due to Armenian efforts at the UN.

2015 brought little tranquility to the Karabakh conflict zone where
ceasefire violations with deadly escalations at regular intervals
continued throughout the year. Armenia accused Azerbaijan of targeting
civilians after three women in Armenia's border villages were killed
as a result of gunfire from Azerbaijani positions in September.

For the first time since the 1994 Azerbaijan used mortars and heavy
artillery in bombarding Armenian military positions as well as
civilians. And in December a battle tank shelled Armenian military
positions in Karabakh.

International mediators represented by the OSCE Minsk Group's American,
Russian and French co-chairmanship mostly refrained from putting
blame on either party for the deadly border violence even after
themselves coming under fire during a ceasefire monitoring mission
at the Line of Contact in October. Instead, they again called for
the establishment of mechanisms of investigating the violations,
acknowledging Armenia's readiness and urging Azerbaijan to follow suit.

The internationally mediated meeting between the Armenian and
Azerbaijani presidents, Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev in the Swiss
city of Bern on December 19 brought no news of a breakthrough as the
parties apparently discussed ways of defusing current tensions in
the conflict zone.

Meanwhile, more concerns were voiced in Armenia during 2015 about
Russian deliveries of modern arms, including offensive weapons, to
Azerbaijan. According to military experts, however, as Yerevan's top
military and political ally, Moscow kept the parity by also supplying
modern types of armaments to Armenia. Russia was likely to further
beef up its military presence in Armenia in the wake of a dramatic
escalation of its relations with Turkey over Syria in November.

Armenia and Russia agreed to join their air defense systems and in
December Russia began deploying new combat helicopters to an airbase
just outside Yerevan. The deployment came to reinforce Russia's
military presence in the South Caucasus that also includes a base
in Gyumri.

The northwestern city was rocked in January by a shooting rampage
allegedly committed by a Russian soldier who deserted from his
military unit stealing arms and ammunition. Valery Permyakov,
a 19-year-old conscript, massacred a seven-member Armenian family,
including two children, in Gyumri sparking angry protests among local
residents demanding his handover to Armenian justice. While they were
concerns about possible complications in Armenian-Russian relations,
the protests did not trigger anti-Russian sentiments in Armenia. The
Armenian trial of Permyakov began in December.

Anti-Russian sentiments were also absent during the June-July
civic protests in Yerevan against energy price hikes blamed on a
Russian-owned electric networks company.

During the year, Armenia also continued to look for ways to give a
new quality to its relation with the European Union that admittedly
suffered a setback in 2013 when official Yerevan announced its
intention to join a Russian-led customs union.

In December, Yerevan and Brussels opened negotiations on a new
overarching framework for bilateral relations that will replace the
previously negotiated but not implemented Association Agreement.

Armenia, however, insists - and the EU acknowledges that - that the
new legal base should not contradict Armenia's commitments to the
Eurasian Union, an economic grouping of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan
and Kyrgyzstan that Armenia joined in January.


armenianow.com 
DOMESTIC POLITICS 2015: TSARUKYAN-SARGSYAN SHOWDOWN, 
TRIO FAILURE, CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUM
28.12.15
NAZIK ARMENAKYAN
ArmeniaNow


In terms of domestic politics much of 2015 in Armenia was dominated by
expectations of a constitutional referendum that sealed transition
to a parliamentary form of government. But politically the year
began with the failure of an opposition trio after the forced exist
from politics of former leader of the Prosperous Armenia Party Gagik
Tsarukyan following a showdown with President Serzh Sargsyan and his
ruling Republican Party of Armenia.

In-between the collapse of the trio and the constitutional referendum
there was a period of relative political passivity, with civic groups
moving in to occupy the vacuum.

The referendum took place on December 6 and according to official
figures over 63 percent of Armenians who went to the polls cast their
votes in favor of a government-proposed change under which during the
2017-2018 election period in the local politics there will be a shift
in the power system from the semi-presidential to a parliamentary
form of government one with the prime minister at its top.

However, the opposition rejected the official results of the Central
Electoral Commission that put the "No" vote tally at only 32 percent.

The opposition claimed that up to 500,000 votes were rigged by
government loyalists.

Remarkably, both former presidents of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrosyan and
Robert Kocharyan, rejected the controversial constitutional reform as
a mistake in their public articles and interviews. President Sargsyan,
however, dismissed the criticism from his predecessors.

After the constitutional referendum, new opposition forces were trying
to take charge in the political field of Armenia.

They were challenging the current main opposition forces - the Armenian
National Congress (ANC), the People's Party of Armenia (PPA), and the
Heritage Party - stating that they were not aware of the "formula"
of the opposition and were unable to carry out the promised change
of power.

Still in late 2014, a political opposition trio was formed, which
included three parliamentary forces: the Armenian National Congress
(ANC), the Prosperous Armenia (PAP) and the Heritage parties. The
Armenian Revolutionary Federation had left the trio earlier. On
February 20, the three forces planned to hold a large rally in
Yerevan's Liberty Square, but before that Gagik Tsarukyan, the PAP
leader, left the party under apparent government pressure, which,
in fact, meant the collapse of the trio.

In the post-Tsarukyan period the PAP announced itself to be an
opposition party, but moderated its position, eventually supporting the
constitutional reform initiated by Sargsyan and vehemently supported
by the RPA.

The opposition's promised "hot spring" was replaced by silence:
passive political events showed that the opposition took a break.

In parallel with the passivity of the parliamentary opposition the
radical opposition led by Jirair Sefilian, a Karabakh war veteran and
Founding Parliament coordinator, became active. The automobile march
to Nagorno-Karabakh organized by activists of the Founding Parliament
group as part of the movement called "Centenary [of the Genocide]
without the Regime" was obstructed by the police of the NKR. Brutally
beating the participants of the march and breaking their cars,
government loyalists and some plainclothes police officers did not
allow them to get to Stepanakert where Founding Parliament activists
planned to stage protests.

Despite widespread criticisms the Founding Parliament, which initiated
the "Centenary Without the Regime" campaign, urged everyone to take
to the streets on April 24 and not to return home before the regime
collapsed.

Leaders of the group, however, were arrested on April 7. According to
the statement by the Investigative Committee of Armenia, the arrests
were made within the framework of a criminal investigation conducted
in connection with possible "mass disturbances" during public events
scheduled for April 24.

Lawyers of the five arrested members of the radical opposition group
believed their clients were being subjected to political persecution.

In the summer against the backdrop of political passivity, the No
To Plunder civil initiative managed to mobilize thousands of people,
mostly young men and women, for street protests against electricity
price hikes, which were dubbed Electric Yerevan. For nearly two weeks
the participants of the protest managed to keep Yerevan's avenue where
the National Assembly and the President's Office are situated blocked.

The civil struggle dwindled in the wake of the dispersal of the
Baghramyan Avenue protest site, followed by a political autumn focused
on the constitutional referendum.


armenianow.com
SPORTS IN 2015: SOCCER SETBACK, CHESS HOPES, BAKU 
GAMES PARTICIPATION
28.12.15


>From the 79th position in FIFA rankings at the beginning of 2015 to
the 123rd at the end of the year, Armenia's has been quite a fall in
the list of 200 soccer-playing nations in the wake of another failed
international tournament.

With only two draws in eight competitive games, Armenia ended
ingloriously the competition in Euro-2016 qualifying, despite replacing
its Swiss coach with homebred specialist, ex-player and captain Sargis
Hovsepyan as interim coach in the middle of the campaign. Skipper
Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who continued his successful performances for
Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund, could not change the situation
either despite being distinguished by his world class play in separate
episodes on his international duty. Mkhitaryan took over the captain's
duties from veteran goalkeeper Roman Berezovsky, who announced the
end of his long soccer career in summer, at the age of 41.

National team fans representing the First Armenian Front club in
November staged protests and demanded the resignation of soccer boss
Ruben Hayrapetyan, whom they blamed for the national team failures and
generally the poor state of affairs in Armenian soccer. Hayrapetyan
refused to step down, but vowed to "sort things out" next season and
only then consider leaving his post.

In December, Varuzhan Sukiasyan, who already led Armenia in 2000-2001,
was appointed head coach of the national team.

With no luck on the soccer pitch during 2015, Armenians reasonably
expected more success on the chess board, where the nation's players
traditionally excel.

Despite his ups and downs on the FIDE rating list, top Armenian
grandmaster Levon Aronian will be among the eight candidates playing
in a tournament next year to decide the challenger for the world title
match against holder Magnus Carlsen from Norway. Russia has invited
Aronian to take part in the Candidates Tournament using its right to
name one player as the host nation.

During the year Aronian won a prestigious tournament in St. Louis, USA,
(taking third in the Grand Chess Tour overall) and led Team Armenia
to silver medals in the European team chess championship that ended
in Reykjavik, Iceland.

The most controversial sporting news of the year, however, was the
participation of Armenian athletes in the first-ever European Games
in Baku, Azerbaijan. Following several months of debate, the National
Olympic Committee left it up to the federations and athletes themselves
to decide whether they wanted to participate in competitions staged
in a country hostile to Armenians.

Some leading athletes, including world wrestling champions Arsen
Julfalakyan and Artur Alexanyan, eventually decided to skip the Games.

The delegation of 25 athletes representing six sports that went to
the June competitions in Baku experienced a hostile reception from
the crowd during the opening ceremony as well as pressure from the
stand throughout the Games. Still, Armenia's Greco-Roman wrestler
Mihran Harutyunyan managed to win a silver medal, while Russia's
ethnic Armenian wrestler Stepan Maryanyan won a gold.

(Harutyunyan was later named Armenia's second best athlete of the
year, while Greco-Roman wrestler Artur Alexanyan, who won his second
world title during 2015, was recognized as the best sportsperson of
the year).

And in August, the sixth Pan-Armenian Games were held in Armenia. More
than 6,300 athletes from Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh and the worldwide
Armenian Diaspora competed in 17 sports at the Games.


panarmenian.net
Armenia's major innovation events in 2015


In the framework of Digi Code programming contest, Armenian school
students got an opportunity to work with Scratch programming language.

The IT field in Armenia is the corner stone of the country's economic
development. It doesn't depend on mineral resources; it's indifferent
about closed borders and the regional situation. It only needs highly
qualified specialists, who are capable to develop and promote their
products globally. Thanks to unique projects, Armenian IT companies
managed to find their place on the map of international innovative
solutions in 2015.
December 26, 2015

PanARMENIAN.Net - Summing up the achievements, PanARMENIAN.Net
presents 12 major events in the field.

Shadowmatic mobile game developed by Triada Studio Games was
recognized by Apple as one of the best 2015 games . Shadowmatic was
named the game of the year and the best innovative game in several
countries. Launched on January 15, 2015, it attracted attention
immediately. It received prestigious international prizes, including
Apple Design Awards in June.

Startup Render Forest has developed a unique online platform for the
users to create high resolution videos.

In early September the Internet Society of Armenia opened for
registration the domain .Õ°Õ¡Õµ (pronounced as hye). During three months
(from September 1 to November 30) the owners of trademarks or other
intellectual property obtained the primary right to register with the
domain.

In late September, the 10th jubilee international conference titled
`Computing Sciences and information Technologies kicked off in
Yerevan, bringing together about 40 participants from Russia, France,
Greece, Germany, U.S., Finland, Italy, UK, Netherlands, Japan and
Ukraine, who presented over 130 reports. The objective of the event
was to contribute to exchange of scientific ideas between the
specialists of computer and information technologies and to discuss
achievements.

In October, Armenian IT companies, along with firms from Russia,
Ukraine, Belarus, Taiwan, China, Iran and other countries, presented
their innovative solutions during the 11th annual exhibit Digitec
Expo.

Meanwhile, on October 10 the opening ceremony of the first Armenian
fab labs took place in Yerevan. Equipped with special techniques, fab
labs allow to stimulate scientific research in the fields of robotics,
physics, machine building, etc, turning into a new platform for the
research carried out by young Armenian scientists.

Armenian startup ArmNomads that was founded in March 2015 employs
three developers. However, it has already proved that all one needs
for creation of a quality product is knowledge, good ideas and
enthusiasm, while big budget and publicity are not the main factors
for success. The team has developed Let's Twist mobile game that
caught the attention of Apple and was featured as Editor's Choice in
78 countries of the world on November 12.

In late November, the Union of Employers of Information and
Communication Technologies started operating in Armenia. The
organization aims to cooperate with educational and public structures
in various segments of Armenian economy to raise the country's
competitiveness.

Armenian-American startup SoloLearn is one of the fastest developing
startups of the Silicone Valley with up to $10mln financial backing,
according to Mattermark company engaged in startup research. Besides,
SoloLearn was included in the list of the best applications in India.
With the huge competition at the programming tutor market, SoloLearn
achieved an incredible result: it became the world leader in the
field.

On December 8, Ball of Robots exhibition opened in Yerevan, featuring
20 interactive robots from the UK, U.S., Japan, Russia, Ireland and
other states, including the famous actor Thespian, Robot Paro,
designed to administer the documented benefits of animal therapy,
robowaiter Yosha, RoboFootball, Robot Ping-Pong and Robot Baxter
performing industrial operations, as well as the best of Armenian
robotics.

In the framework of Digi Code programming contest, Armenian school
students got an opportunity to work with Scratch programming language
and upload the games they created to the website of Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. Scratch is a visual programming language. It
can be accessed as a free desktop and online multimedia authoring tool
that can be used by students, scholars, teachers, and parents to
easily create games and provide a stepping stone to the more advanced
world of computer programming.

In mid-December, Forbes magazine issues the list of top 50 startups in
2015 that also included PicsArt Armenian startup estimated at $250
mln. PicsArt is a full-featured mobile photo editor, collage maker,
drawing tool and a social network for artists. It was developed in
2011 and garnered over 250 million users all over the world. 


ALREADY ITCHING FOR YOUR FIRST HOLIDAY OF 2016? 
HERE ARE SOME OF THE TOP DESTINATIONS FOR YOUR BREAK
Lincolnshire Echo, UK
Dec 28 2015


1. Rio, Brazil ...

2. Rotterdam, Netherlands

3. Matera, Italy

4. Fremantle, Australia

5. Berlin, Germany

6. Ladakh, Himalayas

7. Sacremento, California

8. Yukon, Canada

9. Armenia

"Armenia is a Christian nation on Asia's edge, where east and west
collide, bordering Turkey, Georgia, Iran and Azerbaijan," explains
Kerry O'Neill, of Secret Compass, which organises the Armenia: Fables,
Myths and Legends expedition.

Caroline O'Keefe, Secret Compass

"This team expedition across the rugged ridge lines of its Southern
Caucasus mountains was tough but not impossible, totally wild and
ultimately very satisfying.

"The 12-strong team got on brilliantly, working in small teams to set
up camp and cook every night.

"We exchanged travellers' tales and learned about Armenia's turbulent
history from our guides, the cloudline sometimes below us, sometimes
above. The mountain peaks rippled out as far as the eye could see,
southwards into Iran, eastwards into Azerbaijan."

"We experienced the incredible hospitality - and ferociously strong
alcoholic shots! - of our kind hosts near Tatev Monastery at our
adventure's end. Used to the normally conservative nature of travel in
the Middle East, Armenia offered a breath of high-altitude fresh air."

Highlights include: Scaling two mountains above 3,200m in the very
remote and wild Arevik National Park; visiting Tatev Monastery,
perched precipitously on the side of the Vorotan Gorge, Armenia's
deepest gorge; and exploring Yerevan afterwards, a buzzing capital
city.

Follow in Kerry's footsteps on the Armenia expedition from August 27
to September 4, 2016, priced at £1,599 (all-inclusive except
international flights). Approximate return flights from London to
Yerevan cost £300 return.

This is purely a trekking expedition, with a bit of light scrambling
every now and then when reaching the rocky tops of things. You need to
be fit though, as days can be long and hot.

Team mates will be carrying all their summer gear though so experience
of trekking while carrying a relatively heavy rucksack (the water
alone weighs 3kg at the beginning of even day) is advised. 


armenpress.am
EXPORTS OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES RISE BY NEARLY 
60% IN ARMENIA
28 December, 2015


YEREVAN, DECEMBER 28. Armenia recorded major progress in
exports of fruits and vegetables in 2015. Minister of Agriculture
of Armenia Sergo Karapetyan told the journalists about this in the
final annual press conference.

"We have already exported 76 thousand tons of fresh fruits and
vegetables against 46 thousand and 450 tons of last year. We have
increased exports by nearly 60%. We expect more rise till the end of
the year", "Armenpress" reports, the Minister stated.

Sergo Karapetyan added that the main markets of Armenian exports are
the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union. "Russia's share
here is 84% against 46% of the last year", Sergo Karapetyan stated.

Monday 28 December 2015

Armenian News... A Topalian... Unrequited Love...


lragir.am 
Unrequited Love and Hatred of Armenians26 December 2015

Gallup's next survey in Armenia has caused a debate. According to its
findings, 79% of Armenians agreed with what Putin is doing, and this
is almost the highest rate in the world. This is higher than in
Russia.

Experts point to different reasons ranging from historical
circumstances and fears to the current Russian-Turkish tensions. It
should be noted that this rate overlaps with the result of other
surveys measuring the pro-Russian sentiment.

The picture would not be complete if there were not for another
finding of Gallup's survey. The liking of Obama's activity by the
Armenians is the lowest in the world.

Love and hatred go together, whether in everyday life or politics, and
this circumstance is especially obvious for peoples living with
community, not political set of values and perceptions.

What do the Armenians like and what do the Armenians dislike in this case?

It turns out that they love the supply of weapons to Azerbaijan,
social and economic misery, corruption, humanitarian and technological
recession, the gas deals, the isolation etc. In the long run, they
also love the Armenian government because this government does nothing
that Putin is against.

Because they love all this, logically they must dislike the opposite,
which is Obama. During Obama's office the United States thwarted the
Russian-Azerbaijani plans in Artsakh at least three times, which
supposed the deal `Artsakh for Russian peacekeepers'. The United
States has provided billions of dollars to Armenia to create
infrastructures that will improve people's life, to pay salaries and
pensions, and is now funding the fight on corruption.

Of course, there are more serious issues, such as the United States is
the guarantee of the security of Armenia and contains the danger
coming from Turkey but it is meaningless to talk about these things.
It is meaningless to look for the line between good and evil in
politics. There are interests, and everything depends on the ability
of a society to define its interests. Only political nations, nations
with real elites are capable of this. The others assess the world and
are guided by myths and fears invented by others and have grown into
insurmountable complexes over time.

Don't love too much or you may hate, the Armenian saying is. When
there are no other landmarks, these feelings are destructive for
societies stuck in mythology. In addition, this love is unrequited,
and this hatred is ignored.

One more important thing ` one can only imagine the sorrow of this
public if it finds out that Putin acts in accordance with Obama's
`guidelines'. 


arka.am 

Russia donates $5 million for Armenian communities in Tavush 
province 

YEREVAN, December 23. The Russian government has released $5
million to finance a program designed specifically for rural
communities of Armenian Tavush province.

The program, called `Integrated support for rural development:
strengthening the resilience of communities" is being implemented in
concert with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the
Ministry of Territorial Administration and Emergency Situations of
Armenia.

Under the program until 2020, some 62,000 residents of 45 border
communities in Tavush region will be able to develop income-generating
projects.

"The residents of these communities will themselves determine their
priority projects. This is a new approach in support of people living
in border villages,' said the UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP
Resident Representative in Armenia Bradley Buzetto.

He expressed hope that the program will attract additional funding and
thanked the Russian government for its support.

Oleg Shapovalov from the Russian embassy in Armenia said; `"Naturally,
Armenia is our close neighbor and closest strategic ally. We have a
number of humanitarian projects, which we are implementing in this
country."

"This is a very interesting program, which, in our opinion, will lead
to a significant improvement in living and working conditions of the
population of border rural communities. This is not only an economic,
but also a social program,' said Shapovalov. -0- 


RFE/RL Report 
Prosecutors Investigate `Referendum Fraud"
Sisak Gabrielian
24.12.2015


Prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into what the
opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK) calls evidence of serious
fraud committed in five Yerevan precincts during Armenia's December 6
constitutional referendum.

The HAK publicized last week huge discrepancies between the vote
results there released by the precinct commissions and the Central
Election Commission (CEC). The party's deputy chairman, Levon
Zurabian, showed copies of precinct protocols indicating that most
local voters rejected President Serzh Sarkisian's constitutional
changes. Final CEC figures showed overwhelming "Yes" votes in those
communities, however.

Zurabian portrayed this conflicting data as further proof that the
Sarkisian administration rigged the referendum. He went on to submit
the documents to the Office of the Prosecutor-General.

The law-enforcement agency announced on Wednesday that it has opened a
criminal case in connection with the report.

Zurabian said on Thursday that the prosecutors had no choice but to at
least launch formal criminal proceedings. "We presented concrete
evidence of fraud," he told RFE/RL's Armenian service
(Azatutyun.am). "They just couldn't act otherwise," he said, adding
that the HAK will closely monitor the probe.

The CEC chairman, Tigran Mukuchian insisted last week that even if the
official results in the five precincts were indeed falsified they
could not have had a decisive impact on the overall outcome of the
vote.

The HAK has tried unsuccessfully to contest that outcome in Armenia's
Constitutional Court. It has failed to collect at least 27 signatures
in the 131-member parliament needed for lodging such an appeal. It
hoped to present the court with more than 5 hours of video footage and
90 pages of documents purportedly proving its fraud allegations.

According to Zurabian, the opposition party on Wednesday submitted
those documents to the Yerevan-based embassies of European Union
member states.

Both the EU and the United States have urged the Armenian authorities
to properly investigate "credible" fraud allegations made by the
opposition, non-partisan observers and media. They have warned that
failure to do so would compromise the legitimacy of the referendum
results.

The prosecutors say that Armenian law-enforcement bodies have
investigated more than 480 fraud reports and have opened 46 cases in
connection with them. It is not yet known how many people, if any,
have been detained or charged as a result.


RFE/RL Report 
Karabakh Reports Renewed Growth In Tourism
24.12.2015


The number of foreign tourists visiting Nagorno-Karabakh has risen by
almost 14 percent this year despite increased ceasefire violations
along the Armenian-Azerbaijani frontline around the disputed
territory, an official in Stepanakert said on Thursday.

The Arka news agency quoted Sergey Shahverdian, head of the local
tourism department, as telling reporters that 16,366 tourists from
dozens of countries visited Karabakh from January-November, up from
14,375 in the year-earlier period.

These figures do not include residents of Armenia, who also travel to
Karabakh in larger numbers these days.

The official number of non-Armenian tourists visiting Karabakh stood
at about 5,000 in 2007. It grew steadily in the following years until
falling by 11 percent in 2014.

Shahverdian welcomed the renewed growth in tourism. He said the
Karabakh government is continuing to promote the once war-ravaged
region as a tourist destination despite Azerbaijani obstruction.

The Azerbaijani authorities regard private or business trips to
Karabakh not authorized by them as a breach of Baku's internationally
recognized sovereignty over the territory. Hundreds of foreign
dignitaries and ordinary visitors have been declared personae no grata
in Azerbaijan for ignoring these warnings.

Recent years' expansion of Karabakh's tourism sector is evidenced by
the emergence of new hotels and guesthouses not only in Stepanakert
but also Shushi (Shusha), Karabakh's second most important town that
was mainly populated by Azerbaijanis before the 1991-1994 war.

Karabakh's main tourist attractions are mountainous scenery, medieval
Armenian monasteries as well as a cave complex thought to be the site
of one of the most ancient proto-human habitations in Eurasia. They
are located several dozen kilometers away from the heavily militarized
"line of contact" separating the Karabakh Armenian and Azerbaijani
armies. 


armenpress.am 
72.000 VISITORS GOT INTRODUCED WITH THE DEMONSTRATION 
OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MUSEUM-INSTITUTE IN 2015
25 December, 2015


YEREVAN, DECEMBER 25. 72.000 visitors got introduced
with the new and equipped demonstration of Armenian Genocide
Museum-Institute. As "Armenpress" reports, Armenian Genocide Museum
Deputy director Lusine Abrahamyan informed about this during the final
meeting of the year with journalists. "The year was unprecedented
with the number of Turk visitors. After reopening of the museum,
Turkish 1000 citizens visited the museum," Lusine Abrahamyan said.

According to her, 71 delegations from various countries visited the
museum, including delegations from Russia, France, Cyprus and Serbia
led by their presidents during their visit on commemorating the memory
of Armenian Genocide victims.

This year, the Memorial to the Armenian Genocide and Museum-Institute
was attended by 16 thousand pupils and students from Armenian Republic
and Diaspora. 


armenpress.am 
60% OF ARMENIA HOTELS IS IN REGIONS
25 December, 2015


YEREVAN, DECEMBER 25. There are over 340 accommodation
establishments in Armenia with about 20 thousand beds in 10 thousand
hotel rooms. Apart from that, there are more than 200 house-hotels and
over two tens of hostels in the republic. 4 big hotels have opened
this year, 2 - in Yerevan, 2 - in the regions. Head of Department
of Tourism Development Policy of Armenia Ministry of Economy Mekhak
Apresyan said the aforementioned during the press-conference organized
in "Armenpress" news agency.

"If we regard the data of 2000, we'll see that we had only 3-4 hotels
that could host foreign tourists. By the way, all those hotels were
in Yerevan. More than 60% of our hotels is in the regions of our
republic. This is an obvious indicator of a balanced territorial
development," Apresyan said.

"Hostels are popular among the youth. As the number of young people
visiting our country increases, hence that direction must also be
developed. The number of young tourists coming to Armenia aged 18-35
amounted to 6% in 2007. The figure reached 34% in 2013," he added.

Armenia is expected to host two big events in the sector of tourism
in 2016. Armenia will host the annual conferences of WTO. According
to Apresyan, this is very important for the image of the country,
as well as introducing Armenia in business circles.

Apart from that, Armenia will host EURHODIP organization. EURHODIP is
a leading international association with the main focus on the quality,
vitality, and public standing of hospitality and tourism education. 


armenianow.am 
MASIS DELIGHT: BENEFACTOR SPLASHES OUT ON NATIVE 
TOWN'S NEW YEAR DECORATIONS
25.12.15
GOHAR ABRAHAMYAN


A provincial Armenian town has become the main newsmaker of the
current holiday season as a local benefactor has made a generous
donation for its New Year lights and decorations, including a splendid
Christmas tree.

Masis, a community of about 20,000 residents in Ararat Province,
situated some 15 kilometers southwest of capital Yerevan, is enjoying
rare attention from the rest of the country these days thanks to
Gagik Adibekyan who has decided to provide $60,000 to the town for
the main New Year tree and other decorations.

With exotic foods like crocodile meat and New Year food loans from a
Yerevan supermarket chain still remaining the talk of many in Armenia
these days, the main headlines appear to have been grabbed by the
Masis tree that has been brought from Germany and has already become
a topic for anecdotes among the townsfolk.

People in Masis joke that the reason why their traditional green tree
this year looks yellowish is that it got "frozen" on its way.

New Year lights were ceremonially turned out in Masis on December
20, giving a festive look to the town amid continuing speculation
that the money could have been spent more wisely - for instance,
on helping the local social vulnerable families.

Debate about New Year "extravagance" routinely goes on in Yerevan as
well. This year the Armenian capital's New Year lights (including on
the main New Year Tree in Republic Square) were turned on December 21.

This year, the Yerevan Municipality again announced a competition
for "the most beautiful holiday decoration" as part of which in each
administrative district of the city an organization and a family will
be selected for their outstanding effort.

The Ministry of Culture, which highlights the importance of developing
wintertime tourism and accommodating for the possible influx of
tourists, has decided to keep a number of museums open throughout
the holidays for people to be able to visit them.

In the meantime, typically for this time of the year, ordinary people
are also getting ready for the New Year feasts. Despite a fairly
high level of prices (compared to the relatively low incomes of the
population), goods like sugar, eggs, butter make good sales these days.

And all those who do not want to get bogged down in the traditional
Armenian "New Year feasts", have already made reservations at hotels
and rest homes at local resorts or purchased plane tickets for
vacations abroad.

Susanna Sargsyan, a representative of one of the local travel agencies,
says that unlike last year very few tours to Egypt were sold in Armenia
this time around, which reflects the tensions in the region following
the October 31 terrorist attack against a Russia-bound passenger jet.

Still, according to Sargsyan, nearly all New Year holiday tour offers
have been purchased, with the most popular destination being Georgia
due to its being affordable in terms of prices and safe in terms
of traveling. 


armenpress.am 
EVERY SECOND AND THIRD COMPUTER IN ARMENIA IS INFECTED 
BY MALWARE, SAYS SPECIALIST
December 25,2015


Sixty percent of Armenia's population uses the Internet, information
security expert Samvel Martirosyan said on Friday.

According to Kaspersky [antivirus technical support & customer
service], every second and third computer in Armenia is infected,"
he said.

"Today one country can block another country's access to the Internet.

For example, in 2007, a series of cyber attacks occurred in Estonia
and the country was disconnected from the Internet by Russian hackers.

As a result, the activities were paralyzed in the entire country. If
the US government wants, it can instruct to delete a domain name. Now
attempts are being made to attack the global internet satellite,"
the expert added.

Sunday 27 December 2015

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.

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.-


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. 


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

Casanova - The Armenian

http://www.youtube.com/embed/mDY9HV_92Es [1]

Saturday 26 December 2015

Armenian News... A Topalian...


There have been three significant church-based commemorations 
of the Armenian Genocide seeking the intercession of the Armenian 
Martyrs:

 - 28 October at Westminster Abbey, London organised by the     
   ROA Ambassador
-  5 December at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin with the dedication 
   of a Khatchkar, a gift of gratitude to the Church of Ireland organised 
   by the Dublin Parish Council
 - and finally, on 19 December at St David's Cathedral, Wales with the 
   dedication of a specially commissioned statue, a gift of gratitude 
   to the Church in Wales organised by the Cardiff Parish Council


armradio.am 
MINORITY KILLINGS BY IS SHOULD BE RECOGNISED AS 
GENOCIDE, BRITISH MPS SAY
21 Dec 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan


The killing of minorities by so-called Islamic State should be
recognised as genocide, more than 60 British parliamentarians have
said in a letter to the PM, the BBC reports.

They urge David Cameron to use his influence to reach an agreement
with the UN that the term genocide be used.

This would send the message that those responsible would be caught,
tried and punished, the letter adds.

IS has been systematically killing minority groups including Iraqi
and Syrian Christians and Yazidis, it said.

The letter, written by MP Rob Flello and Lord Alton, said there was
clear evidence of IS assassinations of church leaders, mass murders,
torture, kidnapping for ransom in the Christian communities of Iraq
and Syria and "the sexual enslavement and systematic rape of Christian
girls and women".

It also said the group was carrying out "forcible conversions to
Islam", the destruction of churches, monasteries, cemeteries, and
Christian artifacts, and theft of lands and wealth from Christian
clergy.

The letter said: "This is not simply a matter of semantics.

"There would be two main benefits from the acceptance by the UN that
genocide is being perpetrated.

"First, it would send a very clear message to those organising and
undertaking this slaughter that at some point in the future they will
be held accountable by the international community for their actions;
they will be caught, tried and punished.

"Second, it would encourage the 127 nations that are signatories to
the Convention to face up to their duty to take the necessary action to
'prevent and punish' the perpetrators of these evil acts." 


Hurriyet Daily news, Turkey
Dec 18 2015
Christian refugees face difficulties, hide religion in Turkey
Rifat BaÅ?aran 


Some 45,000 Christians who fled Syria and Iraq are forced to hide
their religious identity in the Turkish provinces of Yozgat, Aksaray
and Çorum.

Around 45,000 Armenians, Syriacs and Chaldean Christians who fled to
Turkey have applied to the United Nations to be able to go on to the
U.S., Canada or Austria and have been granted residency in Turkey
until 2023. Most now live in small Anatolian cities including Yozgat,
Aksaray, Çorum, Amasya, KırÅ?ehir, Erzurum, and Afyonkarahisar.

The Syriac and Armenian Patriarchates, the Istanbul Syriac Orthodox
Church and a number of NGOs are supporting many of these refugees
financially, but their problems go far beyond financial struggles.

For the Armenians, the situation has a historic angle, as many are
returning to lands that their ancestors were forced to leave 100 years
ago.

Anonis Alis Salciyan, an Armenian who fled Iraq one year ago with her
family and then settled in the Central Anatolian city of Yozgat, told
Hürriyet that they pretended to be Muslim in public. A picture of the
Virgin Mary hung on the wall next to a plastic Christmas tree in the
room where the Salciyan family lives.

Anonis' ancestors were driven from Anatolia by the Ottoman authorities
and local Muslims a century ago. One hundred years later, they have
once again been forced to leave their country.

`My family was originally from [the southeastern Turkish province of]
Van. My husband's family came from [the southeastern province of]
Gaziantep. My husband and I fled [Iraq] with our two children one year
ago with around 20 other families. There was pressure on us in Iraq,'
Anonis' said, recalling that her husband, who ran a jewelry shop in
Iraq, is unemployed in Yozgat.

 `We have relatives in Europe. We are only getting by thanks to their
support,' she added.

Salciyan also said her children were struggling in their new life in
Turkey because they cannot speak the language.

`Our children cannot go to school here because they cannot speak
Turkish. They can only communicate with the children of other Armenian
families who have moved here,' she said.

Girl who hasn't spoken since ISIL raided home in Baghdad

Linda and Vahan Markaryan also decided to flee to Turkey with their
two children when their home in Baghdad was raided by militants of the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

`When ISIL militants raided our house in Baghdad last year, my
daughter NuÅ?ik was seven. She stopped talking on that day and has
never spoken again since then. We are now living in Yozgat. We are
working hard to provide her treatment, but she still won't speak,'
said Linda.

`We do not have a future here. Everything in our lives is uncertain.
Our only wish is to provide a better future for our children in a
place where they are safe and secure,' she added.

She also said it was hard for them to practice their religion because
of public pressure.

`We are pious people, but we have to conduct our sermons and prayers
at home. This is hard,' she said.
Her husband, who was an electricity technician in Baghdad, said he
struggled to work in Yozgat.

`We are only working in temporary jobs in places like construction
sites. The others workers [Turkish citizens] are paid around 100
Turkish Liras a day but we are only paid 25 liras a day for the same
work. We cannot demand our rights,' he said.

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy Selina DoÄ?an,
who is also of Armenian origin, has visited Armenian families in
Yozgat during preparation of a report for the CHP's Research
Commission on Migrants and Refugees. 


armradio.am 
AZERBAIJAN USES HOWITZER CANNON TO SHELL ARMENIAN 
DEFENSE POSITIONS
21 Dec 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan


The rival used artillery weapons of different caliber as at fired more
than 1,700 shots in the southern direction (Hadrut) of the line of
contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan
last night.

According to the NKR Ministry of Defense, the Azerbaijani side used 60,
82and 120 mm mortars, TR-107 missile units and 122 mm D-30 howitzer
cannon.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army resorted to retaliatory
actions to pressure the activeness of the rival and confidently
continued with their military duty all along the line of contact. 


RUSSIA REINFORCES ARMENIA BASE WITH ATTACK, 
DEFENCE HELICOPTERS - INTERFAX
Reuters
Dec 21 2015


MOSCOW Russia has reinforced its air base in Armenia with attack and
transport helicopters, Interfax news agency cited the Russian military
as saying on Monday.

A total of six Mi-24 and Mi-8 helicopters have been sent to the base
near the capital city of Yerevan, Interfax reported. Russia deployed
seven helicopters to Armenia earlier in December. 


RFE/RL Report
Armenia Again Chides Ex-Soviet Allies Over Karabakh
21.12.2015

Armenia on Monday again criticized other ex-Soviet states aligned in
the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) for not openly
backing it in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, saying that their stance
undermines the credibility of the Russian-led defense pact.

Speaking at a CSTO summit in Moscow, President Serzh Sarkisian said
they should "learn" from NATO member states' unanimous support for
Turkey shown after last month's downing of a Russian warplane near the
Syrian-Turkish border.

"Every time the armed forces of Azerbaijan use various small arms,
mortars and artillery systems against the Republic of Armenia, they
also shoot at Astana, Dushanbe, Bishkek, Moscow and Minsk," he said,
listing the capitals of three Central Asian states as well as Russia
and Belarus.

Sarkisian cited a clause in the CSTO statutes stipulating that
military aggression against one CSTO member also constitutes an attack
on its military allies. "If we not only do not apply this article, do
not discuss the existing situation, do not bother to pick up the phone
and find out what is happening in allied Armenia but also vote against
its interests in international organizations # then we simply put our
whole Organization and its prestige and significance under that fire,"
he warned.

The remarks seemed primarily addressed to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and
Tajikistan. The three Muslim nations have traditionally warm ties with
Azerbaijan.

Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan signed up in 2013 to a declaration of Turkic
states that called for a Karabakh settlement "within Azerbaijan's
internationally recognized borders." They well as Tajikistan had
previously backed even more pro-Azerbaijani statements adopted by the
Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Armenian leaders have repeatedly criticized those moves. As recently
as in September, Colonel-General Yuri Khachaturov, the chief of the
Armenian army's General Staff, voiced Yerevan's discontent with its
allies following an upsurge in fighting along the Armenian-Azerbaijani
border and "the line of contact" around Karabakh. A few days later,
Nikolay Bordyuzha, the CSTO's Russian secretary general, condemned
Azerbaijan for shelling Armenian villages.

In his speech at the Moscow summit publicized by his office, Sarkisian
said that Baku has since raised fighting in the conflict zone to "a
new and very dangerous level." "One should not exclude that Azerbaijan
has done that with external assistance and encouragement," he said,
seemingly hinting at Turkey.

It was not clear whether Russian President Vladimir Putin and other
CSTO leaders responded to the criticism during the summit. Sarkisian,
whose country currently holds the CSTO's rotating presidency, did not
mention the issue when he made a statement to the press after the
meeting. 
4 REASONS WHY AZERBAIJAN WON'T START WAR
KARABAKH OFFICIAL
December 21, 2015 

A large-scale war is unlikely to break out between Armenia and 
Azerbaijan, David Babayan, spokesman for the President
of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic said, according to Tert.am.

On the other hand, he noted, it does not mean that Azerbaijan will
stop its policy of provocations.

"A large-scale war won't start for a number of reasons. To see into
the motives behind Azerbaijan's steps, we must better understand the
state's way of thinking, life style, values and domestic situation,"
Babayan said.

One of the primary reasons for Azerbaijan no to unleash large-scale
hostilities is politico-military balance between the conflicting
parties. That is, Azerbaijan is unable to war against Armenia and
Karabakh and win, the spokesperson noted.

The second reason is that "the superpowers, which currently serve as
mediating countries, do not want war."

"Starting a war is a most serious geopolitical act; unleashing the
1990s war was much easier because of a geopolitical vacuum in the
Transcaucasia. The USSR collapse left a vacuum, with no global power
being able to prevent the war. But the situation is different now
because of global actors' interests in Azerbaijan, among them being
the West, Russia and Iran."

By starting a war Azerbaijan will isolate itself from the world,
Babayan stated.

"That prevents Ilham Aliyev from taking practical steps, which
would prove disastrous for Azerbaijan and the Aliyev clan, given the
processes inside the country," Babayan said.

One more reason why Azerbaijan will not start a war is the ruling
clan's weakening positions in Azerbaijan and, as a consequence,
persecution of not only opposition members, but also government bodies
- arrests and resignations in Azerbaijan's foreign office and police.

Also, Babayan welcomed the very fact of the meeting between Presidents
Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev after a year's break, "as they help
maintain stability in the region."

The official is sure, however, that Azerbaijan will continue
"Turkey-backed" attacks on the border. This echoes the Azerbaijani
Defense Minister's statements in Turkey claiming to not be "afraid
of anything as long as our big brother backs us."


Agence France Presse
December 18, 2015
Russian soldier on trial for killing Armenia family

A Russian soldier accused of killing seven members of an Armenian
family including children after fleeing his military base went on
trial for murder in Armenia on Friday.

Conscripted soldier Valery Permyakov is accused of murdering a man and
a woman, their grown son and daughter, the daughter-in-law and two
grandchildren in their home in Gyumri, some 55 miles (90 kilometres)
from the capital Yerevan.

Six of the victims, including the couple's two-year-old granddaughter,
were shot dead, while their six-month-old grandson was stabbed to
death in a rampage in January that sparked protests by locals
demanding justice.

Broadcast live by Armenian TV stations, the trial began in tight
security at a Russian military base in Gyumri presided over by an
Armenian judge.

"Why is the trial being held at the Russian base? Are we the Russians'
captives?!" shouted Rita Petrosyan, a relative of the slain Avetisyan
family family who was inside the the packed courtroom.

Other relatives yelled "Shame!" and "May God damn you!" as the
19-year-old soldier sat on the bench with his head down.

Addressing the court, a lawyer for relatives said Permyakov was a
member of a "Satanist group" who had pledged on social networks he
would to "kill several men and several women as part of his pact with
the devil."

Permyakov was arrested after trying to flee to Turkey. His boots and
Kalashnikov rifle were found at the murder scene.

Since then, he has been held at the Gyumri base, with Armenia's
general prosecutor saying he could not be handed over because he was a
Russian citizen being held in Russian jurisdiction.

But the decision sparked outrage and a wave of rare anti-Moscow
protests in the landlocked Caucasus nation, which has a population of
2.9 million, with thousands rallying in Gyumri and Yerevan to demand
he put on trial over the killings.

In a bid to calm the situation, Russia agreed to try him on charges of
desertion while also allowing him to be tried for murder by an
Armenian judge -- but with the trial held at the base.

During his desertion trial in August, Russian military tribunal
sentenced him to 10 years in jail for deserting his base in the
ex-Soviet state which is a close ally of Russia.




Hurriyet Daily news, Turkey
Dec 18 2015
Christian refugees face difficulties, hide religion in Turkey
Rifat BaÅ?aran 


Some 45,000 Christians who fled Syria and Iraq are forced to hide
their religious identity in the Turkish provinces of Yozgat, Aksaray
and Çorum.

Around 45,000 Armenians, Syriacs and Chaldean Christians who fled to
Turkey have applied to the United Nations to be able to go on to the
U.S., Canada or Austria and have been granted residency in Turkey
until 2023. Most now live in small Anatolian cities including Yozgat,
Aksaray, Çorum, Amasya, KırÅ?ehir, Erzurum, and Afyonkarahisar.

The Syriac and Armenian Patriarchates, the Istanbul Syriac Orthodox
Church and a number of NGOs are supporting many of these refugees
financially, but their problems go far beyond financial struggles.

For the Armenians, the situation has a historic angle, as many are
returning to lands that their ancestors were forced to leave 100 years
ago.

Anonis Alis Salciyan, an Armenian who fled Iraq one year ago with her
family and then settled in the Central Anatolian city of Yozgat, told
Hürriyet that they pretended to be Muslim in public. A picture of the
Virgin Mary hung on the wall next to a plastic Christmas tree in the
room where the Salciyan family lives.

Anonis' ancestors were driven from Anatolia by the Ottoman authorities
and local Muslims a century ago. One hundred years later, they have
once again been forced to leave their country.

`My family was originally from [the southeastern Turkish province of]
Van. My husband's family came from [the southeastern province of]
Gaziantep. My husband and I fled [Iraq] with our two children one year
ago with around 20 other families. There was pressure on us in Iraq,'
Anonis' said, recalling that her husband, who ran a jewelry shop in
Iraq, is unemployed in Yozgat.

 `We have relatives in Europe. We are only getting by thanks to their
support,' she added.

Salciyan also said her children were struggling in their new life in
Turkey because they cannot speak the language.

`Our children cannot go to school here because they cannot speak
Turkish. They can only communicate with the children of other Armenian
families who have moved here,' she said.

Girl who hasn't spoken since ISIL raided home in Baghdad

Linda and Vahan Markaryan also decided to flee to Turkey with their
two children when their home in Baghdad was raided by militants of the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

`When ISIL militants raided our house in Baghdad last year, my
daughter NuÅ?ik was seven. She stopped talking on that day and has
never spoken again since then. We are now living in Yozgat. We are
working hard to provide her treatment, but she still won't speak,'
said Linda.

`We do not have a future here. Everything in our lives is uncertain.
Our only wish is to provide a better future for our children in a
place where they are safe and secure,' she added.

She also said it was hard for them to practice their religion because
of public pressure.

`We are pious people, but we have to conduct our sermons and prayers
at home. This is hard,' she said.
Her husband, who was an electricity technician in Baghdad, said he
struggled to work in Yozgat.

`We are only working in temporary jobs in places like construction
sites. The others workers [Turkish citizens] are paid around 100
Turkish Liras a day but we are only paid 25 liras a day for the same
work. We cannot demand our rights,' he said.

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy Selina DoÄ?an,
who is also of Armenian origin, has visited Armenian families in
Yozgat during preparation of a report for the CHP's Research
Commission on Migrants and Refugees.


APA, Azerbaijan
Dec 17 2015
Baku hosts press conference `Lavash, common heritage of Turks'

Baku. Javid Zeynalli ` APA. A press conference on the subject `Lavash,
common heritage of Turks' was held in Baku on Dec.17.

The press conference took place as part of the project `Day of
Lavash', organized jointly by the ministries of culture and tourism of
Azerbaijan and Turkey, and Yunus Emre Institute in Baku.

Ibrahim Yildirim, the representative of Yunus Emre Institute in Baku,
said lavash will be promoted in buses in Baku within the one-month
project.

Tahir Amiraslanov, director of the Azerbaijani National Culinary
Center, said the project aims to draw public attention to the fact
that Armenia is trying to appropriate lavash, the oldest sample of our
national cuisine.

It was mentioned that though on November 26, lavash was presented by
Armenia in the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage to
UNESCO as `Tradition of baking Armenian bread-lavash', the Armenian
provocation was prevented as a result of Azerbaijan's objection and
activities carried out in this regard. Thus, the name of the file was
changed in accordance with the requirements of the UNESCO Convention
revealing that lavash doesn't belong to the Armenian nation, it only
exists in Armenia too.


The Oxford Times, UK
December 17, 2015 Thursday
Bodleian exhibition showcases sacred treasure of the rich 
Armenian culture
by Sarah Mayhew Craddock


Uncovering a rich cultural heritage that spans more than
two-and-a-half millennia, an exhibition of rare Armenian masterpieces
on display in at the Bodleian Library offers a glimpse into the early
days of Christianity.

It celebrates more than 2,500 years of history and culture of the
mountainous Caucasian nation, in a sumptuous display of over 100
manuscripts, books, sacred objects and everyday artefacts from the
Armenian community presented alongside treasures from the Bodleian's
magnificent collections.

"Armenian culture has shaped humanity and given it great gifts, from
precious manuscripts, literature and art to religious and secular
music," said Theo Maarten van Lint. "In this exhibition, we present to
the public the historical, artistic and other cultural achievements of
a people not often in the focus of the public eye, in an effort to
educate, fascinate and create a dialogue between nations and peoples."

The objects selected for display have been gathered from private and
national collections in Armenia, the Netherlands and the UK and
demonstrate the enormous achievements of a nation with a fascinating
and often turbulent history. It was initially conceived by exhibition
curator, Theo Maarten van Lint, the Calouste Gulbenkian Professor of
Armenian Studies at Oxford, in 2002.

Classicist Robin Meyer was invited to co-curate the exhibition
alongside Maarten van Lint, who says: "The University of Oxford has
been engaged with Armenia and its culture for more than 400 years,
ever since Archbishop Laud, the then Chancellor of the University
donated Armenian manuscripts to the Bodleian Library."

Making a conscious effort to highlight Armenian endurance through
times of suffering and hardship, notably the genocide perpetrated
against the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during World War
I (it is estimated that between 800,000 and 1.5 million people were
killed, starting with 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders
in Constantinople on 24 April 1915) and reflecting upon the reputation
that Armenians have gained for smiling in the face of adversity,
Maarten van Lint explained the importance of the show's timing.

"2015 marked the 50th anniversary of the establishment in the
University of Oxford of the Calouste Gulbenkian Professorship of
Armenian Studies," he said .

"Survivors spread worldwide, and came also to Britain. So 2015 is in
more than one way a milestone, and the combination of commemoration
with celebration is very apt in an Armenian context: embracing life
and creating a meaningful, joyous future, despite the sorrows
inflicted upon them is very much the Armenians' attitude, one that the
organisers of the exhibition wholeheartedly subscribe to."

Highlights of the exhibition include a venerated holy book containing
mystical prayer poems with healing powers on loan from a UK-based
Armenian family who have passed down their copy through generations, a
brightly coloured gospel manuscript featuring a 'hidden demon' that
has been rubbed out over the centuries by pious readers, and a
collection of 20 ancient coins telling the story of Armenia's
political and economic history.

But, as always. it is the human stories behind the objects which make
this essential exhibition a delight.

Where and when
Armenia: Masterpieces from an Enduring Culture exhibition is at the
Bodleian Library, Oxford.
For more information visit bodleian.ox.ac.uk/Armenia 



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There have been three significant church-based commemorations 
of the Armenian Genocide seeking the intercession of the Armenian 
Martyrs:

 - 28 October at Westminster Abbey, London organised by the     
   ROA Ambassador
-  5 December at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin with the dedication 
   of a Khatchkar, a gift of gratitude to the Church of Ireland organised 
   by the Dublin Parish Council
 - and finally, on 19 December at St David's Cathedral, Wales with the 
   dedication of a specially commissioned statue, a gift of gratitude 
   to the Church in Wales organised by the Cardiff Parish Council

See the video of the unveiling of the last event:




armradio.am 
MINORITY KILLINGS BY IS SHOULD BE RECOGNISED AS 
GENOCIDE, BRITISH MPS SAY
21 Dec 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan


The killing of minorities by so-called Islamic State should be
recognised as genocide, more than 60 British parliamentarians have
said in a letter to the PM, the BBC reports.

They urge David Cameron to use his influence to reach an agreement
with the UN that the term genocide be used.

This would send the message that those responsible would be caught,
tried and punished, the letter adds.

IS has been systematically killing minority groups including Iraqi
and Syrian Christians and Yazidis, it said.

The letter, written by MP Rob Flello and Lord Alton, said there was
clear evidence of IS assassinations of church leaders, mass murders,
torture, kidnapping for ransom in the Christian communities of Iraq
and Syria and "the sexual enslavement and systematic rape of Christian
girls and women".

It also said the group was carrying out "forcible conversions to
Islam", the destruction of churches, monasteries, cemeteries, and
Christian artifacts, and theft of lands and wealth from Christian
clergy.

The letter said: "This is not simply a matter of semantics.

"There would be two main benefits from the acceptance by the UN that
genocide is being perpetrated.

"First, it would send a very clear message to those organising and
undertaking this slaughter that at some point in the future they will
be held accountable by the international community for their actions;
they will be caught, tried and punished.

"Second, it would encourage the 127 nations that are signatories to
the Convention to face up to their duty to take the necessary action to
'prevent and punish' the perpetrators of these evil acts." 


Hurriyet Daily news, Turkey
Dec 18 2015
Christian refugees face difficulties, hide religion in Turkey
Rifat BaÅ?aran 


Some 45,000 Christians who fled Syria and Iraq are forced to hide
their religious identity in the Turkish provinces of Yozgat, Aksaray
and Çorum.

Around 45,000 Armenians, Syriacs and Chaldean Christians who fled to
Turkey have applied to the United Nations to be able to go on to the
U.S., Canada or Austria and have been granted residency in Turkey
until 2023. Most now live in small Anatolian cities including Yozgat,
Aksaray, Çorum, Amasya, KırÅ?ehir, Erzurum, and Afyonkarahisar.

The Syriac and Armenian Patriarchates, the Istanbul Syriac Orthodox
Church and a number of NGOs are supporting many of these refugees
financially, but their problems go far beyond financial struggles.

For the Armenians, the situation has a historic angle, as many are
returning to lands that their ancestors were forced to leave 100 years
ago.

Anonis Alis Salciyan, an Armenian who fled Iraq one year ago with her
family and then settled in the Central Anatolian city of Yozgat, told
Hürriyet that they pretended to be Muslim in public. A picture of the
Virgin Mary hung on the wall next to a plastic Christmas tree in the
room where the Salciyan family lives.

Anonis' ancestors were driven from Anatolia by the Ottoman authorities
and local Muslims a century ago. One hundred years later, they have
once again been forced to leave their country.

`My family was originally from [the southeastern Turkish province of]
Van. My husband's family came from [the southeastern province of]
Gaziantep. My husband and I fled [Iraq] with our two children one year
ago with around 20 other families. There was pressure on us in Iraq,'
Anonis' said, recalling that her husband, who ran a jewelry shop in
Iraq, is unemployed in Yozgat.

 `We have relatives in Europe. We are only getting by thanks to their
support,' she added.

Salciyan also said her children were struggling in their new life in
Turkey because they cannot speak the language.

`Our children cannot go to school here because they cannot speak
Turkish. They can only communicate with the children of other Armenian
families who have moved here,' she said.

Girl who hasn't spoken since ISIL raided home in Baghdad

Linda and Vahan Markaryan also decided to flee to Turkey with their
two children when their home in Baghdad was raided by militants of the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

`When ISIL militants raided our house in Baghdad last year, my
daughter NuÅ?ik was seven. She stopped talking on that day and has
never spoken again since then. We are now living in Yozgat. We are
working hard to provide her treatment, but she still won't speak,'
said Linda.

`We do not have a future here. Everything in our lives is uncertain.
Our only wish is to provide a better future for our children in a
place where they are safe and secure,' she added.

She also said it was hard for them to practice their religion because
of public pressure.

`We are pious people, but we have to conduct our sermons and prayers
at home. This is hard,' she said.
Her husband, who was an electricity technician in Baghdad, said he
struggled to work in Yozgat.

`We are only working in temporary jobs in places like construction
sites. The others workers [Turkish citizens] are paid around 100
Turkish Liras a day but we are only paid 25 liras a day for the same
work. We cannot demand our rights,' he said.

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy Selina DoÄ?an,
who is also of Armenian origin, has visited Armenian families in
Yozgat during preparation of a report for the CHP's Research
Commission on Migrants and Refugees. 


armradio.am 
AZERBAIJAN USES HOWITZER CANNON TO SHELL ARMENIAN 
DEFENSE POSITIONS
21 Dec 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan


The rival used artillery weapons of different caliber as at fired more
than 1,700 shots in the southern direction (Hadrut) of the line of
contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan
last night.

According to the NKR Ministry of Defense, the Azerbaijani side used 60,
82and 120 mm mortars, TR-107 missile units and 122 mm D-30 howitzer
cannon.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army resorted to retaliatory
actions to pressure the activeness of the rival and confidently
continued with their military duty all along the line of contact. 


RUSSIA REINFORCES ARMENIA BASE WITH ATTACK, 
DEFENCE HELICOPTERS - INTERFAX
Reuters
Dec 21 2015


MOSCOW Russia has reinforced its air base in Armenia with attack and
transport helicopters, Interfax news agency cited the Russian military
as saying on Monday.

A total of six Mi-24 and Mi-8 helicopters have been sent to the base
near the capital city of Yerevan, Interfax reported. Russia deployed
seven helicopters to Armenia earlier in December. 


RFE/RL Report
Armenia Again Chides Ex-Soviet Allies Over Karabakh
21.12.2015

Armenia on Monday again criticized other ex-Soviet states aligned in
the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) for not openly
backing it in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, saying that their stance
undermines the credibility of the Russian-led defense pact.

Speaking at a CSTO summit in Moscow, President Serzh Sarkisian said
they should "learn" from NATO member states' unanimous support for
Turkey shown after last month's downing of a Russian warplane near the
Syrian-Turkish border.

"Every time the armed forces of Azerbaijan use various small arms,
mortars and artillery systems against the Republic of Armenia, they
also shoot at Astana, Dushanbe, Bishkek, Moscow and Minsk," he said,
listing the capitals of three Central Asian states as well as Russia
and Belarus.

Sarkisian cited a clause in the CSTO statutes stipulating that
military aggression against one CSTO member also constitutes an attack
on its military allies. "If we not only do not apply this article, do
not discuss the existing situation, do not bother to pick up the phone
and find out what is happening in allied Armenia but also vote against
its interests in international organizations # then we simply put our
whole Organization and its prestige and significance under that fire,"
he warned.

The remarks seemed primarily addressed to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and
Tajikistan. The three Muslim nations have traditionally warm ties with
Azerbaijan.

Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan signed up in 2013 to a declaration of Turkic
states that called for a Karabakh settlement "within Azerbaijan's
internationally recognized borders." They well as Tajikistan had
previously backed even more pro-Azerbaijani statements adopted by the
Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Armenian leaders have repeatedly criticized those moves. As recently
as in September, Colonel-General Yuri Khachaturov, the chief of the
Armenian army's General Staff, voiced Yerevan's discontent with its
allies following an upsurge in fighting along the Armenian-Azerbaijani
border and "the line of contact" around Karabakh. A few days later,
Nikolay Bordyuzha, the CSTO's Russian secretary general, condemned
Azerbaijan for shelling Armenian villages.

In his speech at the Moscow summit publicized by his office, Sarkisian
said that Baku has since raised fighting in the conflict zone to "a
new and very dangerous level." "One should not exclude that Azerbaijan
has done that with external assistance and encouragement," he said,
seemingly hinting at Turkey.

It was not clear whether Russian President Vladimir Putin and other
CSTO leaders responded to the criticism during the summit. Sarkisian,
whose country currently holds the CSTO's rotating presidency, did not
mention the issue when he made a statement to the press after the
meeting. 
4 REASONS WHY AZERBAIJAN WON'T START WAR
KARABAKH OFFICIAL
December 21, 2015 

A large-scale war is unlikely to break out between Armenia and 
Azerbaijan, David Babayan, spokesman for the President
of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic said, according to Tert.am.

On the other hand, he noted, it does not mean that Azerbaijan will
stop its policy of provocations.

"A large-scale war won't start for a number of reasons. To see into
the motives behind Azerbaijan's steps, we must better understand the
state's way of thinking, life style, values and domestic situation,"
Babayan said.

One of the primary reasons for Azerbaijan no to unleash large-scale
hostilities is politico-military balance between the conflicting
parties. That is, Azerbaijan is unable to war against Armenia and
Karabakh and win, the spokesperson noted.

The second reason is that "the superpowers, which currently serve as
mediating countries, do not want war."

"Starting a war is a most serious geopolitical act; unleashing the
1990s war was much easier because of a geopolitical vacuum in the
Transcaucasia. The USSR collapse left a vacuum, with no global power
being able to prevent the war. But the situation is different now
because of global actors' interests in Azerbaijan, among them being
the West, Russia and Iran."

By starting a war Azerbaijan will isolate itself from the world,
Babayan stated.

"That prevents Ilham Aliyev from taking practical steps, which
would prove disastrous for Azerbaijan and the Aliyev clan, given the
processes inside the country," Babayan said.

One more reason why Azerbaijan will not start a war is the ruling
clan's weakening positions in Azerbaijan and, as a consequence,
persecution of not only opposition members, but also government bodies
- arrests and resignations in Azerbaijan's foreign office and police.

Also, Babayan welcomed the very fact of the meeting between Presidents
Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev after a year's break, "as they help
maintain stability in the region."

The official is sure, however, that Azerbaijan will continue
"Turkey-backed" attacks on the border. This echoes the Azerbaijani
Defense Minister's statements in Turkey claiming to not be "afraid
of anything as long as our big brother backs us."


Agence France Presse
December 18, 2015
Russian soldier on trial for killing Armenia family

A Russian soldier accused of killing seven members of an Armenian
family including children after fleeing his military base went on
trial for murder in Armenia on Friday.

Conscripted soldier Valery Permyakov is accused of murdering a man and
a woman, their grown son and daughter, the daughter-in-law and two
grandchildren in their home in Gyumri, some 55 miles (90 kilometres)
from the capital Yerevan.

Six of the victims, including the couple's two-year-old granddaughter,
were shot dead, while their six-month-old grandson was stabbed to
death in a rampage in January that sparked protests by locals
demanding justice.

Broadcast live by Armenian TV stations, the trial began in tight
security at a Russian military base in Gyumri presided over by an
Armenian judge.

"Why is the trial being held at the Russian base? Are we the Russians'
captives?!" shouted Rita Petrosyan, a relative of the slain Avetisyan
family family who was inside the the packed courtroom.

Other relatives yelled "Shame!" and "May God damn you!" as the
19-year-old soldier sat on the bench with his head down.

Addressing the court, a lawyer for relatives said Permyakov was a
member of a "Satanist group" who had pledged on social networks he
would to "kill several men and several women as part of his pact with
the devil."

Permyakov was arrested after trying to flee to Turkey. His boots and
Kalashnikov rifle were found at the murder scene.

Since then, he has been held at the Gyumri base, with Armenia's
general prosecutor saying he could not be handed over because he was a
Russian citizen being held in Russian jurisdiction.

But the decision sparked outrage and a wave of rare anti-Moscow
protests in the landlocked Caucasus nation, which has a population of
2.9 million, with thousands rallying in Gyumri and Yerevan to demand
he put on trial over the killings.

In a bid to calm the situation, Russia agreed to try him on charges of
desertion while also allowing him to be tried for murder by an
Armenian judge -- but with the trial held at the base.

During his desertion trial in August, Russian military tribunal
sentenced him to 10 years in jail for deserting his base in the
ex-Soviet state which is a close ally of Russia.




Hurriyet Daily news, Turkey
Dec 18 2015
Christian refugees face difficulties, hide religion in Turkey
Rifat BaÅ?aran 


Some 45,000 Christians who fled Syria and Iraq are forced to hide
their religious identity in the Turkish provinces of Yozgat, Aksaray
and Çorum.

Around 45,000 Armenians, Syriacs and Chaldean Christians who fled to
Turkey have applied to the United Nations to be able to go on to the
U.S., Canada or Austria and have been granted residency in Turkey
until 2023. Most now live in small Anatolian cities including Yozgat,
Aksaray, Çorum, Amasya, KırÅ?ehir, Erzurum, and Afyonkarahisar.

The Syriac and Armenian Patriarchates, the Istanbul Syriac Orthodox
Church and a number of NGOs are supporting many of these refugees
financially, but their problems go far beyond financial struggles.

For the Armenians, the situation has a historic angle, as many are
returning to lands that their ancestors were forced to leave 100 years
ago.

Anonis Alis Salciyan, an Armenian who fled Iraq one year ago with her
family and then settled in the Central Anatolian city of Yozgat, told
Hürriyet that they pretended to be Muslim in public. A picture of the
Virgin Mary hung on the wall next to a plastic Christmas tree in the
room where the Salciyan family lives.

Anonis' ancestors were driven from Anatolia by the Ottoman authorities
and local Muslims a century ago. One hundred years later, they have
once again been forced to leave their country.

`My family was originally from [the southeastern Turkish province of]
Van. My husband's family came from [the southeastern province of]
Gaziantep. My husband and I fled [Iraq] with our two children one year
ago with around 20 other families. There was pressure on us in Iraq,'
Anonis' said, recalling that her husband, who ran a jewelry shop in
Iraq, is unemployed in Yozgat.

 `We have relatives in Europe. We are only getting by thanks to their
support,' she added.

Salciyan also said her children were struggling in their new life in
Turkey because they cannot speak the language.

`Our children cannot go to school here because they cannot speak
Turkish. They can only communicate with the children of other Armenian
families who have moved here,' she said.

Girl who hasn't spoken since ISIL raided home in Baghdad

Linda and Vahan Markaryan also decided to flee to Turkey with their
two children when their home in Baghdad was raided by militants of the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

`When ISIL militants raided our house in Baghdad last year, my
daughter NuÅ?ik was seven. She stopped talking on that day and has
never spoken again since then. We are now living in Yozgat. We are
working hard to provide her treatment, but she still won't speak,'
said Linda.

`We do not have a future here. Everything in our lives is uncertain.
Our only wish is to provide a better future for our children in a
place where they are safe and secure,' she added.

She also said it was hard for them to practice their religion because
of public pressure.

`We are pious people, but we have to conduct our sermons and prayers
at home. This is hard,' she said.
Her husband, who was an electricity technician in Baghdad, said he
struggled to work in Yozgat.

`We are only working in temporary jobs in places like construction
sites. The others workers [Turkish citizens] are paid around 100
Turkish Liras a day but we are only paid 25 liras a day for the same
work. We cannot demand our rights,' he said.

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy Selina DoÄ?an,
who is also of Armenian origin, has visited Armenian families in
Yozgat during preparation of a report for the CHP's Research
Commission on Migrants and Refugees.


APA, Azerbaijan
Dec 17 2015
Baku hosts press conference `Lavash, common heritage of Turks'

Baku. Javid Zeynalli ` APA. A press conference on the subject `Lavash,
common heritage of Turks' was held in Baku on Dec.17.

The press conference took place as part of the project `Day of
Lavash', organized jointly by the ministries of culture and tourism of
Azerbaijan and Turkey, and Yunus Emre Institute in Baku.

Ibrahim Yildirim, the representative of Yunus Emre Institute in Baku,
said lavash will be promoted in buses in Baku within the one-month
project.

Tahir Amiraslanov, director of the Azerbaijani National Culinary
Center, said the project aims to draw public attention to the fact
that Armenia is trying to appropriate lavash, the oldest sample of our
national cuisine.

It was mentioned that though on November 26, lavash was presented by
Armenia in the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage to
UNESCO as `Tradition of baking Armenian bread-lavash', the Armenian
provocation was prevented as a result of Azerbaijan's objection and
activities carried out in this regard. Thus, the name of the file was
changed in accordance with the requirements of the UNESCO Convention
revealing that lavash doesn't belong to the Armenian nation, it only
exists in Armenia too.


The Oxford Times, UK
December 17, 2015 Thursday
Bodleian exhibition showcases sacred treasure of the rich 
Armenian culture
by Sarah Mayhew Craddock


Uncovering a rich cultural heritage that spans more than
two-and-a-half millennia, an exhibition of rare Armenian masterpieces
on display in at the Bodleian Library offers a glimpse into the early
days of Christianity.

It celebrates more than 2,500 years of history and culture of the
mountainous Caucasian nation, in a sumptuous display of over 100
manuscripts, books, sacred objects and everyday artefacts from the
Armenian community presented alongside treasures from the Bodleian's
magnificent collections.

"Armenian culture has shaped humanity and given it great gifts, from
precious manuscripts, literature and art to religious and secular
music," said Theo Maarten van Lint. "In this exhibition, we present to
the public the historical, artistic and other cultural achievements of
a people not often in the focus of the public eye, in an effort to
educate, fascinate and create a dialogue between nations and peoples."

The objects selected for display have been gathered from private and
national collections in Armenia, the Netherlands and the UK and
demonstrate the enormous achievements of a nation with a fascinating
and often turbulent history. It was initially conceived by exhibition
curator, Theo Maarten van Lint, the Calouste Gulbenkian Professor of
Armenian Studies at Oxford, in 2002.

Classicist Robin Meyer was invited to co-curate the exhibition
alongside Maarten van Lint, who says: "The University of Oxford has
been engaged with Armenia and its culture for more than 400 years,
ever since Archbishop Laud, the then Chancellor of the University
donated Armenian manuscripts to the Bodleian Library."

Making a conscious effort to highlight Armenian endurance through
times of suffering and hardship, notably the genocide perpetrated
against the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during World War
I (it is estimated that between 800,000 and 1.5 million people were
killed, starting with 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders
in Constantinople on 24 April 1915) and reflecting upon the reputation
that Armenians have gained for smiling in the face of adversity,
Maarten van Lint explained the importance of the show's timing.

"2015 marked the 50th anniversary of the establishment in the
University of Oxford of the Calouste Gulbenkian Professorship of
Armenian Studies," he said .

"Survivors spread worldwide, and came also to Britain. So 2015 is in
more than one way a milestone, and the combination of commemoration
with celebration is very apt in an Armenian context: embracing life
and creating a meaningful, joyous future, despite the sorrows
inflicted upon them is very much the Armenians' attitude, one that the
organisers of the exhibition wholeheartedly subscribe to."

Highlights of the exhibition include a venerated holy book containing
mystical prayer poems with healing powers on loan from a UK-based
Armenian family who have passed down their copy through generations, a
brightly coloured gospel manuscript featuring a 'hidden demon' that
has been rubbed out over the centuries by pious readers, and a
collection of 20 ancient coins telling the story of Armenia's
political and economic history.

But, as always. it is the human stories behind the objects which make
this essential exhibition a delight.

Where and when
Armenia: Masterpieces from an Enduring Culture exhibition is at the
Bodleian Library, Oxford.
For more information visit bodleian.ox.ac.uk/Armenia