Azarbaycan, Azerbaijan Sept 9 2017 Baku warns USA of repercussions if criticism continues Obama-era stereotypes still exist in the USA [groong note: the below is translated from Azeri] Over the past few days Azerbaijan has faced a new smear campaign, which was launched by some Western forces and which may cast shadow on the prospects of US-Azerbaijani relations. Baku under attack On 4 September, The Washington Post and The Guardian published two sponsored articles, signalling a new wave of attacks [on Baku] and setting in motion a giant discreditation machine, which also involves "the fifth column". There were no doubts that Azerbaijan has once again become the target of criticism from various international organisations and the official representatives of several states. On 7 September, US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement that the jailed head of Turan news agency, Mehman Aliyev, should be released. Then pro-Armenian Senator Richard [Dick] Durbin proposed amendments to the fiscal year 2018 State And Foreign Operations appropriations bill, envisaging sanctions against Azerbaijani officials. David Kramer and other critics on staff remaining from the Obama administration have started a campaign for the implementation of sanctions. Thus, it can be seen that Soros-linked circles and the Armenian lobby, which always target Azerbaijan, took the opportunity to try and spoil the US-Azerbaijani relationship and strategic partnership. Trump vowed non-interference We have to admit that that after Donald Trump was elected US president there were hopes that the problems that emerged between the two countries during the Obama administration would be solved. [Passage omitted: Presidents Trump and Aliyev had a telephone conversation after Trump's election; President Aliyev was invited to the 2017 nuclear security summit; President Trump congratulated Aliyev on Azerbaijan's Independence Day] On the other hand, Mr Trump said repeatedly that unlike in previous years, the USA would not build its foreign policy on the principles of interference into other countries' domestic affairs and would not try to control them. That made one think that the US president has set an objective to develop equitable and mutually beneficial relationships with other countries. This policy could be a good start to reverse negative trends and the cold spell that happened in US-Azerbaijan relations during President Barack Obama's tenure and to develop an effective and equitable cooperation and strategic partnership between the two countries. But the latest events have shown that official Washington has not yet removed the Obama-era stereotypes and various lobbying groups' serious levers to influence state policy. Forces maintain important positions within the State Department, Congress and other important executive and legislative institutions and are interfering in independent countries' domestic affairs and instructing the USA's partners to review their policy under the pretext of "democracy" and "human rights", which runs counter to Mr Trump's strategic line. These forces believe that Azerbaijan should not have a statehood and national interests and that it should not cross the limits they set. This is a completely wrong way of thinking. Azerbaijan has already proved that, as an independent state, it alone defines its internal and foreign policy and international relations, and it does not need any advice from foreign power centres or forces. Maybe that is why some circles in the USA think that Azerbaijan "does not accept" the West and its values. That is why some Western media, including The Washington Post, which is considered to be the State Department's mouthpiece, publish fake reports about Azerbaijan that contradict the concept of partnership and go beyond [media] ethics, and that is why the Human Rights Watch, Freedom House and other organisations of this kind are used to exert pressure [on Baku]. Baku tolerates criticism For many years Azerbaijan has tolerated such accusations, doing everything possible to prevent these unjust attacks from casting a shadow on the strategic partnership, mutually beneficial bilateral and multilateral ties. On the one hand, Azerbaijan has shown its commitment to its strategic choice, duties and obligations. On the other hand, it has shown that, as an independent state, it is eager to build relations with all global political powers on the basis of equal cooperation and will never take any step that could put its national interests at risk. Within this context, the sincerity of Azerbaijan's attitude to the USA and the European Union could be considered as exemplary. The reality is that official Baku has not yet given up this choice and is trying to develop its strategic partnership with the European Union and the USA despite pressure from different power centres and some regional states. ... but may have had enough But can official Baku review its partnership policy towards the West and take appropriate steps if the anti-Azerbaijani forces and lobby interests prevail in the USA and if the Magnitsky Act, which was imposed on Russia, is applied to Azerbaijan? What could be these steps? According to experts, experience shows that although official Baku is quite sincere in its relationship with its partners, it has never tolerated a policy of pressure and dominance. From this point of view, it seems quite possible that the Azerbaijani government may take appropriate steps to end its strategic partnership with the West. As it was said, Azerbaijan's partnership with the West concerns and irritates some regional states. But remaining committed to a multi-vector and balanced policy, official Baku has endured pressure, and maintained and developed its strategic partnership with the US and the European Union. Sanctions and similarly incorrect actions may force Azerbaijan to review its foreign policy and make a one-sided choice. That would be a serious loss for the USA and Western states that have serious interests in the region. It is known that Azerbaijani peacekeepers were part of the peacekeeping missions in Kosovo in 1999-2008 and Iraq in 2003-08. Azerbaijani soldiers joined the peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan in 2002 and continue to perform their duties well. Azerbaijan is supporting Nato troops in Afghanistan by opening its air space and allowing [Nato] to use its air transport infrastructure. But Azerbaijan may stop its military and geostrategic cooperation with the West, cease participation in anti-terror operations and peacekeeping mission and refuse any logistical support to Nato troops in Afghanistan. Those who authorised this fresh campaign against Azerbaijan naively believe that it will help them protect "the 5th column" and their "friends" [in Azerbaijan]. For many years, Azerbaijan has tried to turn a blind eye to anti-national elements such as [journalists] Khadija Ismayil, Mehman Aliyev, Emin Milli as well as to the arbitrariness of Western NGOs and media networks and tolerated them although it was quite clear that they were fulfilling a certain mission. However, when the activities of this network started shaking the foundations of the state, it became necessary to take preventive measures and the necessary steps were taken. The West's new "demarche" can become a serious basis for further actions. Of course, the list of what actions may be taken is long and not limited to those mentioned above. But is that necessary? What good will it do the West to exert pressure on and alienate Azerbaijan? Azerbaijan is loyal to its relationship with the USA and the West and wants these relations to deepen further. One would like to hope that the Trump administration will not repeat the mistakes of the Obama-era and will not let the Soros-backed network and the Armenian lobby to gain ground and spoil its ties with Baku. In this case, neither absurd steps like sanctions nor retaliatory steps will be necessary.
Author: Kajoyan Gevork
‘Forbidden Journeys’ Film Event to Celebrate Legacy of J. Michael Hagopian
J. Michael Hagopian on location in Hussenig.
LOS ANGELES – In 1967, a group of Armenian-Americans organized by the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) were among the first to travel to Historic Armenia to find traces of their roots the Turks had left behind. On Sunday, October 1, 2017, portions of J. Michael Hagopian’s documentary film of that landmark journey will be screened along with Ani Hovannisian-Kevorkian’s short documentary on the vanishing traces of Historic Armenia, shot nearly 50 years after Hagopian’s footage.
The October 1 program, “Forbidden Journeys,” will present segments of Hagopian’s 1967 film Historic Armenia and of Hovannisian-Kevorkian’s current documentary on the disappearing vestiges of Historic Armenia, followed by a panel that includes Marc A. Mamigonian, Director of Academic Affairs at NAASR, Dr. Carla Garapedian of the Armenian Film Foundation, Dr. Richard G. Hovannisian, Professor Emeritus of Modern Armenian and Near Eastern History at UCLA, and Hovannisian-Kevorkian. UCLA Professors S. Peter Cowe and Sebouh Aslanian will make opening and closing remarks.
“Forbidden Journeys” will be the first program in the J. Michael Hagopian Film Discovery Series jointly presented by the Armenian Film Foundation (AFF) and NAASR. It will focus on the pioneering legacy of J. Michael Hagopian – his impact as an advocate for Armenian Studies and as a filmmaker.
Hovannisian-Kevorkian in Western Armenia.
The 1967 trip was the first of NAASR’s “Armenian Heritage Tours.” The Armenian-Americans who set out on this journey were the earliest such group to travel to historic Western Armenia. For some, it was a trip back to the places of their birth. Among the travelers was Hagopian, NAASR’s first West Coast director and co-founder of the Armenian Film Foundation. Himself a native of Kharpert and a survivor of the Armenian Genocide, Hagopian shot film on this path-breaking trip, capturing in many cases for the first time post-Genocide images of the Western Armenian homeland. The film has not been screened for over three decades.
Fast forward to 2013 when Hovannisian-Kevorkian was traveling through Western Armenia and discovered a lone Scottish explorer/photographer who has spent 30 years quietly uncovering and documenting the vanishing traces of this lost world. Since then she has been filming with him, digging beneath the modern map, encountering stories and physical remnants and revealing the hidden map of Turkey’s forbidden past.
Co-sponsored by the Richard G. Hovannisian Chair in Modern Armenian History at UCLA, the Narekatsi Chair in Armenian Language and Literature at UCLA, and the Ararat-Eskijian Museum, the October 1 program will take place at 2:00 pm, at the James Bridges Theater, Melnitz Hall, UCLA. This program is free and open to the public. A reception will immediately follow the program. Parking is available in Lot 3, 215 Charles E. Young Drive North (at Hilgard Avenue). For more information about the program, contact NAASR at (617) 489-1610 or .
http://asbarez.com/166268/forbidden-journeys-film-event-to-celebrate-legacy-of-j-michael-hagopian/
‘When Minsk Group stops making toothless and untargeted announcements, they will stop shooting’: Artak Zakaryan
Aravot, Armenia Sept 4 2017 ‘When Minsk Group stops making toothless and untargeted announcements, they will stop shooting’: Artak Zakaryan First Deputy Minister of Defence of the Republic of Armenia, Artak Zakaryan spoke about the fire attacks by the Azerbaijani side during the OSCE Monitoring Mission. Asked whether he expected any response, Artak Zakaryan replied: “Our political response has not been late.” Kasprzyk had informed they were unable to understand which side was firing, that is, does he put the version of our Ministry of Defence implying that the fire was from the Azerbaijani side? Artak Zakaryan replied: “No, it is not put under question, the direction is clear, it has been from the opposite side, but towards what and where from.I do not know why they make a non-targeted announcement, this question should be given to Kasprzyk already. For us it is a fact that Azerbaijan can open fire even on the OSCE Monitoring Mission.” To the overview, implying that they do not directly state within their announcement that the fire was opened by the Azerbaijani side, Artak Zakaryan responded: “The fact remains that we proceed from facts.” Asked whether he is satisfied with the assessment of the Monitoring Mission to the incident, Mr. Zakaryan replied: “The Ministry of Defence is concerned with the circumstance that they open fire on the borders of the Republic of Armenia, including the Monitoring Mission. I am simultaneously concerned with the fact that they shoot at our kindergartens and the ones conducting the Monitoring Mission. Let the international public evaluate already, it will be very desirable that the OSCE Minsk Group stops doing toothless and non-targeted announcements, after that they will stop shooting.” Hripsime JEBEJYAN
Yerevan’s Hamazgayin State Theatre to Get New Home; It’s Just Not Where Sos Sargsyan Dreamt Of
17:36,
Armenia’s government today gave the green light for the construction of a new building in Yerevan that will house the Hamazgayin State Theatre, named in honor of the celebrated actor Sos Sargsyan, who established it in 1991.
GM Developer LLC, the company that presented the investment project, will build the new theatre at a 1, 278 square meter site in downtown Yerevan, near the intersection of Amiryan and Henri Verneuil Streets.
Since its establishment, the theatre has been housed in the Yerevan State Institute of Theatre and Cinematography (YSITC) located at the intersection.
An annex of the Institute will be demolished to make way for the new theater.
The new theatre will occupy 955 square meters, and a multi-residential building will be constructed on the remainder.
For years, Sos Sargsyan, who passed away in 2013, and the theatre ensemble, had dreamt of having their own performance space.
Originally, the government allocated land on Central Boulevard, in the park leading to the famous “Children’s Train”.
The Sos Sargsyan Cultural Foundation then launched a fundraising drive to see the new theatre, designed by architect Levon Ghaloumyan, a reality.
Later, a company called Nor Yerevan (New Yerevan), part of the Tashir Group, was granted a construction permit.
The foundation raised $15,000․ That money was stolen in 2016 by outside individuals now on trial. The hope of building a new theatre vanished with the money.
The YSITC annex, that will be demolished to make way for the new theater, is currently used by the Institute and is also leased to the College of Finance and Banking, a private concern.
The YSITC’s archives and classrooms, including that of Rector Davit Mouratyan, are located on the first floor. YSITC Pro Rector Vahan Yeghiazaryan told Hetq that the space has been leased to the college until 2018.
Vahan Yeghiazaryan
Yeghiazaryan says that they are willing to see the annex demolished so that the Hamazgayin Theatre can be built on the site.
“It’s not a building designed to house a theater. It has no wardrobe rooms and other features. Anyway, in a few years it will be on the verge of collapsing and it will take a huge amount to have it reinforced,” Yeghiazaryan said.
Once Hamazgayin moves, the space it now occupies will be used for lectures.
The blue circle shows the site of the new residential building, and the red arrow shows the YSITC annex that will be demolished and replaced with the new Hamazgayin Theatre.
The staff and actors at Hamazgayin aren’t upset at the ways things have turned out.
Hamazgayin Theatre Artistic Director Vigen Chaldranyan says it’s the best possible solution at the moment.
“Sos Sargsyan worked tirelessly to get a separate building for the theater. The master’s wish, of course, hasn’t been realized in the sense that the financial resources weren’t there to get the project completed in the park. What the government has come up with, given the circumstances, is the best solution,” Chaldranyan said.
He says he worked with the architect on the design.
“I can’t say if it will look like the Sundukyan or Baronian theaters, that have their own surrounding space and look beautiful from the street, but it will be fully furnished, Chaldranyan added.
He says the new building will be handed over to the Hamazgayin Theatre in December 2018.
Armenia’s Hovhannes Bachkov to face Cuban boxer at World Boxing Championships
The World Boxing Championships continue in Hamburg, with the semi-final games scheduled for August 31.
To reach the finals, Hovhannes Bachkov (64kg), the only representative of the Armenian national team to remain in the championships, will face Andy Cruz Gómez of Cuba.
After his victory in the quarter-finals on Tuesday, Bachkov has ensured at least bronze at the World Championships.
The semi-final games start at 8.00 p.m. Yerevan time, the National Olympic Committee of Armenia reports.
Bachkov won gold at the last European Championships.
Hostage-taker neutralized by police
Police in Armenia have released a girl who was taken hostage in a billiard club located in Yerevan’s Erebuni district on Tuesday.
A sniper wounded the hostage-taker, releasing the girl. The wounded man died in the Erebuni centre where he was taken after the shooting, shamshyan.com reports. The source says the man threatened to kill the hostage.
BAKU: Autumn Negotiations on Karabakh to Be Fictitious, ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs
Turan Information Agency, Azerbaijani Opposition Monday Autumn Negotiations on Karabakh to Be Fictitious, ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs Baku / 14.08.17 / Turan: One of the local websites published a material that, citing Armenian and American sources, assures that the Azerbaijani-Armenian negotiations on Karabakh will be held in autumn, under the aegis of the American mediator. The same website draws conclusions that, in spite of the Armenians' confidence in the benefits of future negotiations for Yerevan, which at least expects the preservation of the current status quo, in fact, Baku will benefit. Commenting on this "analysis", ex-Foreign Minister Tofig Zulfugarov called on the authors of the publication not to retell the Armenian tales. "In March next year, the term of office expires for the Armenian President, and in accordance with the constitutional amendments, he will become Prime Minister. Before that, he will not conduct any negotiations. And the upcoming meeting of Foreign Ministers in September is needed, as a theatrical performance - no more. Well, maybe Elmar Mammadyarov will visit his children who live in New York, but this has nothing to do with the settlement of the conflict," Zulfugarov said to Turan IA. -0-
US Calls for Confidence-building Measures in Nagorno-Karabakh
Voice of America
Aug 11 2017
August 11, 2017 5:43 PM
Sixteen months after deadly clashes erupted in Azerbaijan's autonomous breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, international mediators are saying it's time for all parties to undertake confidence-building measures to jump-start the political settlement process.
Russia led mediation to settle the four days of shelling and rocket strikes between Azerbaijan's military and Armenian-backed separatists over Nagorno-Karabakh. The clashes were the deadliest incidents since a 1994 cease-fire established the current territorial division. The brief but intense fighting of April 2016 claimed dozens of lives.
Since then, the United States, Russia and France, which co-chair the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Minsk Group for conflict mediation, have continued advocating diplomacy to secure a binding peace resolution.
Steps toward demilitarization are essential to deterring accidental flare-ups of violence between the groups, said Ambassador Richard Hoagland, U.S. co-chairman of the Minsk Group.
"When you have two armed groups facing each other in difficult terrain not very far apart, there is always the chance for some kind of accident to happen that then spirals out of control," he recently told VOA's Armenian and Azeri services. "I know that at this point it will be difficult to ask for total demilitarization, although that would be good, so what we have to do is to look for those things that can help to reduce the possibility of some kind of military accident that then gets out of control."
Removal of snipers along both sides of the Karabakh line of contact, which separates Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan, would be a logical first step, Hoagland said.
Allowing the presence of international observers and installing new electronic equipment that traces cease-fire violations, he said, would be a second realistic benchmark to achieve.
"There is an actual document [that maps out the peace process], and it's a very comprehensive, but there are steps and steps and steps, and stages and stages," he told VOA. "So I would hope that in the next highest level of negotiations, the two sides will look very seriously and say even if they can't come to a final conclusion, here are things we can accomplish."
U.S.-Russian coordination?
Although some observers describe the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as a rare point of shared strategic interests between the U.S. and Russia, others are skeptical.
Hoagland, however, struck an optimistic tone, saying the United States was continuing to work with Russia on this issue despite deteriorating relations between the two countries.
"I have seen absolutely no change in how we work together and how we regard each other," he told VOA. "Just because sometimes the politicians are bumping up against each other, for us, the work continues and we do it arm in arm.
"Maybe at the top the headline news doesn't look good, but when you get down to specific issues, specific problems to work on together, where we do cooperate, that continues and it continues today on Nagorno-Karabakh," he added.
Although the conflict has yet to come under the focus of the President Donald Trump's administration, former Ambassador John Herbst, director of the Atlantic Council's Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center, told VOA that might change in the coming six to 12 months.
While a planned U.N. General Assembly meeting between Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev may signal a loosening of tensions between the groups, Herbst said, "I still do not see any grounds for a reasonable settlement of the conflict."
"Everyone knows that the overwhelming majority of the population of Karabakh are Armenians and they will have substantial autonomy, and this should be the basis of the settlement," he said.
Competing interests
The main obstacle to full settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the fact that there are too many interests involved in the problem, said analyst Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute, a public policy research group.
"If the problem was only about the two countries, it would probably have been settled, but states like Russia want to maintain the conflict," he said.
Echoing that sentiment, Anna Borshchevskaya of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said Armenian officials have complained that a Nagorno-Karabakh settlement has been hampered by Russian arms sales to both sides.
"Russia wants to play a serious role in this conflict, and if there is no conflict, there will be no such role," she said.
Although Russian weapons deliveries to Baku remained a contentious issue throughout Armenia's 2017 parliamentary elections, most political forces steered clear of the topic and the question of whether Armenia is more secure with Russia as an ally.
Russia plays an important role in the region as its former imperial and Soviet-era overlord. It is also the main seller of weapons to both Armenia, a close Moscow ally, and Azerbaijan, which has developed warm relations with ethnically kin Turkey.
The Kremlin has consistently stated that it intends to continue selling arms to both camps while supporting peaceful resolution of the conflict.
On July 17, Armenia's president called Russian arms sales to Baku "the most painful side of Armenian-Russian relations."
Baku
Armenian political scientist Suren Sargsyan said Baku officials need to assume a more proactive role in securing the front lines, touching on Hoagland's calls for demilitarization as an example.
"Such an agreement has been reached between the parties," she told VOA. "But the Azerbaijani side has not taken any practical steps in that direction for a long time. That is why the negotiation process goes to a deadlock."
Fighting between ethnic Azeris and Armenians erupted in 1991 and a cease-fire was agreed to in 1994. But Azerbaijan and Armenia regularly accuse each other of carrying out attacks around Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Azeri-Armenian border.
On July 5, an Azeri woman and child were killed and another civilian wounded by Armenian forces near the boundary with Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan's defense ministry said Wednesday.
Sporadic exchanges of fire in the fight for control over the region — inside Azerbaijan but controlled by ethnic Armenians — have stoked fears of a wider conflict breaking out in the South Caucasus, which is crossed by oil and gas pipelines.
This story originated in VOA's Armenian service. Some information came from Reuters.
Minister: President was right in stressing security of transportations from Iran via Armenia
News.am, Armenia
Aug 5 2017
Minister: President was right in stressing security of transportations from Iran via Armenia
16:30, 05.08.2017
YEREVAN. – Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan was right in stressing the security of transportations from Iran via Armenia.
Minister of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies of Armenia Vahan Martirosyan told the aforementioned to Armenian News – NEWS.am, referring to the question on Sargsyan’s upcoming visit to Iran.
Asked whether during the visit the Iran-Armenia railway project will be discussed, Martirosyan noted that this time the content of the visit will be slightly different. “Nevertheless, discussions [on this issue] are held regularly,” he added.
Earlier, in an interview with Iranian media outlets, the Armenian President pointed out to the route for multimode transportations (railway, air transport, ferry) from Iran to Europe via Armenia.
“This is the most secure route and the President pointed out to this,” Martirosyan said.
BAKU: Russian historian-scientist summoned to Investigative Committee on basis of Armenian claims
APA, Azerbaijan
Aug 3 2017
The author of numerous scientific investigations which revealed forgeries of the Armenian history, historian-scientist Oleg Kuznetsov was summoned to the Investigative Committee on the claims which were raised against him by Armenians, Oleg Kuznetsov told APA’s correspondent in Russia.
Kuznetsov is summoned to the Office of the Western Administration of the Investigation Committee in Moscow city within the framework of Armenians’ claim on the monograph “Transnational Armenian Terrorism in the Twentieth Century" on August 4.
"I will be interrogated by the special investigator of the Office of the Western Administration of the Investigation Committee in Moscow city, Andrei Alekseyevich Berlyov. According to the investigator, the group of Armenian citizens has an application about my monograph "The history of transnational Armenian terrorism in the twentieth century" to verify that whether or not there is a violation of Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (incitement to national hatred). I know about this application for a long time. One of the journalists from Moscow told about it to me last Thursday. Such an invitation to conduct an interrogation is entirely legitimate, and it complies with the provisions of the Russian Criminal Procedure Code, which regulates the activities of law enforcement officials,” Kuznetsov said.
Kuznetsov emphasized that everything is legal from formal and legal point of view: “However I do not know how the situation will develop in the Investigative Committee, so I decided to get support from Moscow's well-known lawyer, Elmar Pashayev. He will be with me during an interview with the investigator. I will be ready to answer the questions of the investigator on Friday," Kuznetsov added.
The book “The history of transnational Armenian terrorism in the twentieth century” has been written on the basis of materials from USSR's Committee of State Security and US Central Intelligence Agency, and criminal cases about crimes committed by Armenians in Azerbaijan and Russia.