AZERBAIJANI PUBLIC UNION AGAINST U.S. CONGRESS’ FINANCIAL AID TO NAGORNO-KARABAKH
AZG DAILY
2009-12-16 01:12:54 (GMT +04:00)
Azerbaijan’s Irali Public Union issued a statement to voice a protest
against the decision of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate
to allocate $8 million to the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh.
According to the statement, "the Congress` decision contradicts
international law, and could hamper U.S.-Azerbaijan relationship and
strategic partnership".
ARMENIA SHOULD RENOUNCE CURRENT NORMALIZATION PROCESS
/PanARMENIAN.Net/
14.12.2009 20:37 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia should do its utmost to withdraw the current
format of normalizing ties with Turkey, according to ARFD faction
MP Artsvik Minasyan. Either the Parliament should refuse to ratify
Protocols or the Constitutional Court should declare the documents
non-compliant with RA Constitution, he told today a news-conference
organized jointly with RPA faction representative Gagik Minasyan.
Supporting President Serzh Sasrgsyan’s initiative in the current
rapprochement process, the Republican MP indicated two ways out for
Turkey: to ratify Protocols and establish diplomatic ties with Armenia
or to refrain from ratification of documents, deserving international
community’s censure.
GROUP OF ARMENIAN PARLIAMENTARIANS APPLIES TO REPUBLIC’S PRESIDENT WITH REQUEST TO PARDON SASOUN MIKAELYAN
ArmInfo
2009-12-14 14:18:00
ArmInfo. In view of deterioration of health of Sasoun Mikaelyan,
a group of Armenian parliamentarians applied to President of Armenia
Serzh Sargsyan with request to pardon Mikaelyan.
The appeal was signed by 21 representatives of the Republican party and
Prosperous Armenia party, as well as by a number of independent MPs.
To recall, S. Mikaelyan was arrested as a result of March, 2008
disorders in Yerevan. He was sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment.
MADRID PRINCIPLES OVERPASS REASONS
Lragir.am
14/12/09
On December 14, the ARF faction head Vahan Hovhannisyan again dwelt
on the unacceptability of the principles of Madrid. He said those
principles are unacceptable for the ARF because "they wash up the
reasons of the conflict and dwell exceptionally on its consequences".
According to Vahan Hovhannisyan, this is the reason why the principles
of Madrid dwell mostly on the return of territories and not on the
Karabakh status. While, according to Hovhannisyan, if the point is
about the elimination of the outcome but there is nothing on the
reasons, the consequence will be felt one day.
THE ANTI-AIRCRAFT DEFENCE TROOPS ARE READY TO ACCOMPLISH THEIR TASKS
; p=0&id=1091&y=2009&m=12&d=14
14.12 .09
On the 13th of December, 2009 the Minister of Defence Seyran Ohanyan
had a business visit to tow anti-aircraft missile divisions of one of
the RA AF Anti-Aircraft Defence detachments. Although the staffs of
the sub-units were busy with holding Sunday events, still, in order to
check their battle readiness, they were given a number-one readiness
signal. In a few minutes the staffs of the battle-count took their
regular posts, and the technology was brought to a battle state.
Talking to the soldiers and expressing his satisfaction with the
battle readiness of the Anti-Aircraft Defence – Seyran Ohanyan stated
that every soldier has to realize the importance of his service, and
the high ideas of protecting the motherland ought to guide him. In
the divisions the Minister of Defence also got acquainted with the
living condition of the militants and the results of the battle-watch
in the frames of the divisions. Seyran Ohanyan presented the staff
with encouraging gifts.
RA MoD Department of Information and Public Affairs
OPEN ROBOT COMPETITION AIMS TO ENCOURAGE NEW TECHNOLOGICAL IDEAS
PanARMENIAN.Net
11.12.2009 14:29 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Union of Information Technology Enterprises
(UITE) with financial assistance of Hoornet company will launch
Saturday a new round of the Open Robot Competition of Armenia,
ArmRobotics.
"The event aims at consolidation of young scientists, development
of skills and encouragement of new technological ideas," said Karen
Vardanyan, UITE Executive Director.
Hoornet company director Artin Barseghyan said for his part that the
completion will be held in line with the international standards in a
couple of years and voiced hope that Armenian teams will participate
in international tournaments soon.
REV. MARKARIAN’S ‘THE THIRSTY ENEMY’: A STORY OF WAR, FAITH AND PASSION
By Ed Ackerman
Asbarez
Dec 5th, 2009 and filed under Book Review, Reviews.
PARAMUS, NJ-A rocket propelled grenade slams into the terrace outside
of the bedroom window of the apartment he and his wife share in West
Beirut, Lebanon. It makes a much louder sound than the routine gunfire
to which they’ve become accustomed.
A half-dozen members of a Communist militia group, all brandishing
AK 47s, pound on the door in the middle of the night. This scene is
repeated over and over throughout a seven-year period, with armed
militia representing the Mourabitoun, Saiqua, Druze, Fatah, Kurds,
PPS (Partie Populaire Syrienne) and Syrian army. One night, a group
storms in with fixed bayonets, their leader ripping the phone line
out of the wall and threatening their lives.
Abu Abed, a powerfully built militia leader nearly as broad as he is
tall, with a .45 on each hip, who speaks with a mechanical voice box
because his own was lost in battle, becomes an ally in smuggling tons
of food through armed blockades in order to feed thousands of refugees.
These are just some of the events which make the book "The Thirsty
Enemy" read like an adventure novel.
But "The Thirsty Enemy" is not a novel. It is a memoir, the life
story of John Markarian, of West Pittston, Pa.
Markarian, the 92-year-old retired college president and ordained
Presbyterian minister who occasionally preaches at First United
Presbyterian Church on Exeter Avenue, West Pittston, has resided in
that community with his wife Inge since 1987.
According to the book’s cover, "The Thirsty Enemy" is "a story in
which a growing faith in God and awareness of purpose in life meet
to form the adventure. The primary setting for the book is the city
of Beirut. It tells about the beginning steps in the creation of an
institute of higher learning and finds its theme in seven years of war,
giving a drink to the thirsty enemy."
Electing to remain in Beirut for the purpose of protecting Haigazian
College (now University), of which he was founding president, John
Markarian and Inge manage to survive a seven-year period of war,
during which life was cheap on the streets of West Beirut, by inviting
groups most would label "terrorists" to sit down and talk over coffee.
Markarian, who has a doctorate in theology, took inspiration from an
Old Testament proverb and repeated in the New Testament Epistle of
Paul to the Romans: "If your enemy is hungry, give him something to
eat, if he is thirsty give him a drink for by so doing you will heap
burning coals upon his head."
Interwoven throughout the book are Markarian’s personal memories of
growing up as a son of a pastor, being trained in a family member’s
Oriental rug business, working as an accountant for a public utility,
graduating with two degrees from Lafayette College and then from
Princeton Theological Seminary and of, in 1955, accepting a challenge
to launch a new university program in Beirut.
It was the Armenian Evangelical Church that invited Markarian, at
the time in his ninth year of teaching at Lafayette, also the alma
mater of his father and two older brothers, to launch a new university
program in Beirut for the purpose of training leaders for the Armenian
Evangelical Church in the Near East. His first and founding presidency
of Haigazian College ended in 1966. He served as Dean of the Chapel
and Chairman of the Religion Department at Central College in Pella,
Iowa, for three years, returning to Beirut in 1969 to become Director
of Development and Professor at the Near East School of Theology. He
returned to the helm of Haigazian College in 1971 and retired in 1982.
The Markarians returned to the United States residing in Los Angeles
from 1982 until 1987 when they moved to Pennsylvania. At 92, John
Markarian is an avid tennis player and golfer.
"The Thirsty Enemy" (pb, 450 pp, Item #335) is published by The
Armenian Missionary Association of America (AMAA), headquartered at
31 W. Century Road, Paramus, NJ. Each copy of the book is $22.95. To
order, Please contact the AMAA at 201.265.2607, E-mail: [email protected]
or visit the website
VALDIS ZATLERS: ARMENIA NEEDS RELAXED VISA REGIME
/PanARMENIAN.Net/
10.12.2009 18:31 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Eastern Partnership creates a lot of economic
and political opportunities for member states, according to Latvian
President Valdis Zatlers. Latvia supports European Union’s initiative,
he told Thursday YSU faculty members and students.
"A question arises as to why we are interested in the project. We
believe it is now time for EU to change its stance on eastern countries
and develop ties with South Caucasus," Latvian leader said, adding
that the project would help extend political dialogue with EU and
Eastern Partnership member states. With regard to Armenia’s priorities,
Mr. Zatlers pointed out two objectives – relaxation of visa regime
and conclusion of free trade agreement.
Touching on Turkey’s possible accession to European family, Latvian
President said that EU welcomes all countries complying with its
standards.
ABRAHAMYAN, ZATLERS DISCUSS PARLIAMENTARY COOPERATION
PanARMENIAN.Net
10.12.2009 22:10 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian National Assembly Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan
met Thursday with visiting Latvian President Valdis Zatlers to discuss
cooperation between the Armenian and Latvian parliaments.
The two men also referred to normalization of Armenian-Turkish
relations and resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, RA NA
press office reported.
INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC INTEREST
James Hakobyan
Lragir.am
11/12/09
A few days ago, the society, the opposition and even the Armenian
authorities were waiting with bated breath how the Obama and Erdogan
meeting in Washington was going to end Washington and how it will
affect the Armenian-Turkish relations. And this is quite symptomatic
of Armenia.
The behavior of the authorities is especially symptomatic. The power,
in theory, should be a "trendsetter" for the political circles and
the society. And in this case the power should have told the public
that it is not necessary to look back on Washington and wait, as
there will administer our destiny. While it is understandable why
the political circles and the society of Armenia are trying to find
the solution of problems of Armenia in Americas. The point is that
the whole policy of the Armenian authorities in recent years has been
directed to the fact that Armenia has ceased to be a political factor
in the regional. And the socio-political circles not only did not
try to take steps to return the Armenian factor, but they easily to
reconcile with this idea, waiting for power to slip somewhere abroad,
and at last they will reign over the ruins.
And the authorities, knowing that everyone is waiting for its failure,
but realizing that in the coming years no fiasco is likely to happen,
happily arranged in the Armenian thinking, every day becoming firmer
and firmer in Armenia, although losing its factoriality outside. And
under these conditions, the government has no interests to change such
thinking, but it even promotes it almost betting with the society
that Obama will never agree to Karabakh’s inclusion in the package
and that the U.S. president will break Erdogan.
In this case, we are talking about Obama, but from time to time in
this role act Medvedev, Sarkozy and others of that ilk. The essence
remains the same. And here it is not that important what decided Obama,
Medvedev, Sarkozy or Michel Platini. It would seem that these solutions
can be good and bad for us which means that they cannot be important
to us. But it is a more lengthy time period. While in a specific time
for us, no fateful decision has not been taken. Perhaps in the near
future they will not. But the point is that, whatever the decision
is we are only an object rather than a subject. And any "object"
tomorrow may be declared a "zone of the dominant public interest"
because times are changing rapidly changing the objects.