Author: Lena Karagyozian

“Armenia stands out with the level of liberalization of business environment,” Vache Gabrielyan, Armenian Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of International Economic Integration and Reforms said, addressing the Armenia: Investment Forum in New York. He reminded that Armenia is ranked 35^th among 189 countries in the World Bank’s Doing Business Report.

The Deputy Prime Minister referred to Armenia’s geographical location and its peculiarities, the system of governance, the entry visas and accessibility of transport, communication and energy infrastructures.

Vache Gabrielyan stressed the benefits and perspectives opened up by Armenia’s accession to the Eurasian Economic Union, the GSP+ and GSP trade regimes with the European Union and the United States, also as due to cooperation with Georgia and Iran.

Vache Gabrielyan noted that Armenia is amending its tax and customs systems to ensure further improvement of the business environment.

He noted that the Tax Code recently adopted by the National Assembly envisages privileges for investors and entrepreneurs.

Photo: Getty Images

 

China and the West were in contact more than 1,500 years before European explorer Marco Polo arrived in China, new finds suggest, the reports.

Archaeologists say inspiration for the Terracotta Warriors, found at the Tomb of the First Emperor near today’s Xian, may have come from Ancient Greece.

They also say ancient Greek artisans could have been training locals there in the Third Century BC.

Polo’s 13th Century travel to China had been thought the first by a European.

“We now have evidence that close contact existed between the First Emperor’s China and the West before the formal opening of the Silk Road. This is far earlier than we formerly thought,” said Senior Archaeologist Li Xiuzhen, from the Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s Mausoleum Site Museum.

A separate study shows European-specific mitochondrial DNA has been found at sites in China’s westernmost Xinjiang Province, suggesting that Westerners may have settled, lived and died there before and during the time of the First Emperor.

Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Karen Nazaryan received the delegation headed by French MP Francois Rochebloine.

During the meeting reference was made to the dynamically developing relations between Armenia and France, the high-level political dialogue and the effective cooperation in most different spheres.

Deputy FM Nazaryan attached importance to the visit of the French lawmakers to Armenia and Artsakh. He expressed gratitude to Mr. Rochebloine for his pro-Armenian activity and especially for is consistent attitude towards Artsakh-related issues.

The parties emphasized the mutually beneficial cooperation of the Armenian and French delegations within international organizations. Special reference was made to the exceptionally peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict and the continuous efforts towards the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

Asbarez – The 6th World Doll Festival in Japan will display about 1,500 dolls from 71 countries, among them 14 dolls from Armenia. Various booths will provide tourist information about the countries as well.

The event will be held from October 28-30, 2016, at Izutsu Yashiki.

This year the exhibition is devoted to Germany and will harbour dolls from Bayern, hand-made Nutcrackers, smokers from the Harz Mountains made out wood, Christmas pyramids, doll houses, etc.

The Embassy of Germany to Japan, the German House in Naruto City, and Naruto City Tourism Association are patrons of the event.

The program will conclude with a performance of the 9th Symphony by Beethoven. Local restaurants will also offer their international dishes.

The delivery of Russian gas to Armenia will be temporarily halted from September 7 to 12 because of reconstruction works at the Kazakh-Saguramo section of the pipeline, the Georgian Gas and Transport Company has informed Gazprom Armenia CJSC.

The suspension will not affect the supply of gas to consumers, Press Service of Gazprom Armenia CJSC informs.

By Harut Sassounian
The California Courier

On July 13, two days before the coup attempt in Turkey, Professor Halil Berktay of Istanbul’s Sabanci University answered six written questions on the Armenian Genocide posed by El Pais, Spain’s largest newspaper. But when El Pais did not publish his answers, Dr. Berktay decided on August 15 to post his interview on a Turkish website, Serbestiyet, under the title: “With or without the coup, genocide was and is genocide.”

Berktay, a liberal Turkish scholar, told El Pais that he has repeatedly recognized the Armenian Genocide ever since 2002. He described the genocide as “the near-complete extermination and annihilation of Ottoman Armenians,” acknowledged that for his honest views on the Armenian Genocide, “especially before 2002, and even afterwards (though no longer by the government), there has been a huge amount  of informal, extra-legal pressure, blackmail, threats or other forms of psychological terror brought to bear on people like me, which I and others have all had to face.”

Answering a question from El Pais: “why does Turkey refuse to review the past?” Dr. Berktay responded: “Back in the 1980’s and 90’s… the denialism of the past was based on ancestor worship or ideological allegiance to Unionism and Ataturkism. What had happened to the Armenians in 1915 was seen as a black blot for Turkish nationalism. Also, while it was not committed by or under the Kemalist Republic, because the Republic had ended up inheriting the mantle of a territory ethnically cleansed of the Armenians, it was in the nature of an inadmissible impurity for the desired lily-white legitimacy of the Kemalist Revolution. So a taboo was placed on it; it became part of the unmentionable and undiscussable. Here and there a few academics, mostly living and working abroad, did speak up. They were lonely voices in the wilderness.” Berktay then added: beginning in 2000, “things began to change,” with an increasing number of Turkish scholars speaking out on the Armenian Genocide.

The most interesting part of Bertkay’s interview is his stated reason for the Turkish government’s reluctance to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide: “It may be that the Turkish government does not know what might happen if it were to go ahead and say yes, it was genocide. What would Armenia likely do or demand? Is it going to ask for material compensation, or even land? That is what the Dashnaks as radical Armenian nationalists have been saying all along: Three R’s, as they put it, Recognition, Reparation, Restitution (of land). Certainly the last is something that no Turkish government can possibly ever concede. It is very likely, therefore, that before they take any further step, they would like Armenia to show its hand. Conversely, as long as Armenia keeps its cards close to its chest, recognizing the genocide as genocide will have to wait.”

A careful reading of the Professor’s above statement indicates that he finds the return of lands to Armenia by Turkey not possible, but does not rule out reparations. In my view, while Armenians rightly claim their historic lands, they are willing to accept reparations as an initial step.

Perhaps the most controversial aspect of Berktay’s answers is his explanation of Turkey’s reasons for refusal to face its sordid past: “Faced with the peculiar challenge of recognizing the Armenian genocide, large sections of the Turkish public as well as the AKP keep asking, and will keep asking: Why us? And why only us? Are all nations being asked to atone for their past equally stringently? Or is it just Turkey? Meanwhile, what about what ‘they’ did to ‘us’ in the first place? If we recognize the Armenian genocide, will they, too, ever so slightly recognize the tragic plight of the Muslim Turks of Crete, mainland Greece, Bulgaria or Serbia? Who speaks for the Turk? Do we have any friends in the world?”

While I do not agree with some of Berktay’s explanations, I cannot expect him to have the same position on Armenian issues as I do. After all, he is a Turk, but a righteous Turk, which is not what one can say about Turkish leaders and large segments of Turkish society that still deny the historical facts of the Armenian Genocide!

Berktay has taken a great risk by posting his answers on the Armenian Genocide on the internet, particularly in the current brutal atmosphere since the July coup attempt when tens of thousands of innocent Turkish citizens have been summarily arrested and thrown into jail!

 

 

 

The rumors about the plans to cede territories have nothing to do with reality, President of the “National Security” Party Garnik Isagulyan told reporters today.

Summing up the developments on the Karabakh issue since 1988, he said “the issue of territories has always been raised in negotiations ever since the conclusion of ceasefire in 1994.”

“Unfortunately, our political scientists, politicians think that when we speak about territories, it means the Armenian side is ready for unilateral concessions,” Isagulyan said.

“There are a number of areas occupied by Azerbaijan. Why doesn’t one think that when we speak about territories, it’s about the return of Azeri-occupied lands to the Armenian side?” he added.

According to Garnik Isagulyan, neither the NKR President, nor any official representative of Artsakh has ever spoken of unilateral concessions, although ,he said, “it has never been revealed what ‘mutual concessions’ mean.” He sees no problem with Armenia rpresentng Nagorno Karabakh in the negotiations.

Isagulyan believes the format is even more beneficial for the Armenian side. “Irrespectoive of what Armenia and Azerbaijan may agree upon one day, Artsakh can clearly state it disagrees with the position of Armenia,” he explained.

He assured no one is going to cede territories and added that no one can force Armenia and Artsakh make concessions. He added that the Armenian side has not signed any document ever since 1994. All other documents just form the basis of negotiations and are not signed by anyone.

The Azerbaijani side violated the ceasefire 18 times at the line of contact with the Karabakh forces last night, NKR Defense Ministry reports.

The rival fired more than 200 shots, including 43 from sniper rifles in the direction of the Armenian positions.

Armenian contract serviceman Mher Vanik Ziloyan, born in 1991, was wounded in Azeri shooting in the southeastern direction at about 00:10.

His condition is satisfactory. Probe into the details of the case is under way.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army keep control of the situation at the frontline and continue with the reliable protection of the military positions.

Representatives of RA Armed Forces led by head of the Armenian branch of the Tank Biathlon Federation, Lieutenant-General Muraz Sargsyan have left for Moscow to participate in the Tank Biathlon, Military Intelligence Excellence and Sniper Circumscription competitions.

The events will be held in Russia and Kazakhstan within the framework of the International Army Games-2016. The competitions will start from July 30.

Photo: Getty Images

 

David Cameron will chair his final cabinet meeting as prime minister later as Theresa May prepares to take over, the BBC reports.

Mrs May had been expecting a nine-week Conservative leadership race, but rival Andrea Leadsom withdrew on Monday.

Mr Cameron will tender his resignation to the Queen on Wednesday, leaving Mrs May, home secretary since 2010, to appoint her own ministerial team.

Mrs May said she was “honoured and humbled” to be taking over and pledged to make a success of the UK’s EU exit.