Author: nina hovnanian

BAKU DISCLOSES NEGOTIATIONS WITH MOSCOW OVER KARABAKH

Haikazn Ghahriyan, Editor-in-Chief
Comments – 29 December 2014, 11:29

The Azerbaijani foreign minister Mammedyarov has told Interfax that
Azerbaijan will not enter the Eurasian Economic Union for the sake
of concessions on Karabakh. He said their relationship with Russia
is developing irrespective of this and will further deepen thanks
through bilateral cooperation, without CSTO and EEU.

Mammedyarov told the truth because Russian-Azerbaijani and Turkish
relations are close to alliance or the alliance may already be in
place. In the Russian projects of CSTO and EEU Azerbaijan will lose
its opportunity for maneuver. In these unions it would have to assume
certain commitments that would not be in line with its interests like
the other states participating in those projects.

Mammedyarov actually reveals there was such a conversation on “getting”
Karabakh in return for membership to the EEU. He did not disclose the
source of such a proposal. It could have equally been made by Baku or
Moscow. Besides, the Karabakh issue has obviously been discussed in
proposals on ensuring land communication via Azerbaijan which came
from both Azerbaijan and Russia. In addition, there was a hint that
the Armenian side also participated in those negotiations but this
information has not been confirmed.

Armenia was annexed by the EEU through blackmail mainly using security
issues. On the one hand, Russia armed Azerbaijan which used those
weapons for sabotages against Armenia and Karabakh. On the other hand,
it proposes deploying troops in the conflict area. The first part of
this plan is complete: Armenia joined the EEU without Karabakh.

As to deployment of troops in the conflict area, apparently there are
difficulties with this due to the international political setting. At
least, the Russian side has recently announced about the necessity
to resolve the problem within the Minsk Group. This means that the
status quo will continue.

How long will this last? The grounds for this status quo – the
balance of forces – have been changed due to arming Azerbaijan and
limiting Armenia’s sovereignty. This circumstance contains real risk
of resumption of war.

Azerbaijan is not a CSTO and EEU member and does not have relevant
arrangements. Besides, Karabakh is not part of Eurasian Armenia, and
possible military actions by Azerbaijan will be beyond CSTO mandate.

Of course, CSTO has never and will never restrain Azerbaijan but
there was the sovereign army of Armenia which prevented sabotages and
counteracted. At present, however, when Armenia has joined the EEU
and thereby limited the freedom of its own armed forces, the problem
is getting even more complicated.

Russia and Azerbaijan closely cooperated over the annexation of Armenia
by the EEU. What new “project” could Baku and Moscow implement? The
relations between the West and Azerbaijan have aggravated, which has
brought this country closer to Russia.

Besides, the UN has adopted a resolution which bans supply of weapons
to those states in which human rights are violated. Azerbaijan and
Russia have not joined this resolution.

MISSING INDONESIAN PLANE HAD NO ARMENIAN CITIZENS ON BOARD

YEREVAN, December 29. /ARKA/. The missing Indonesian Air Asia airplane
had no Armenian citizens on board, the press secretary of the Armenian
foreign ministry Tigran Balayan wrote on his facebook page referring
to the information from the embassy in Jakarta.

Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore was reported
missing on Sunday morning.

The aircraft with 155 people on board, including one British, one
Malaysian, one Singaporean, and three Koreans, and seven crew members
lost contact with air traffic control at around 6:17 a.m. local time.

The plane is reported to have requested an unusual route before it
lost contact. -0–

8TH ANNIVERSARY OF DINK’S ASSASSINATIONTO BE COMMEMORATED AT THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

11:06, 29 Dec 2014

On January 21, 2015, the 8th anniversary of assassination of Turkish
Armenian journalist, editor-in-chief of the Istanbul-based Agas daily
Hrant Dink will be commemorated at the Europen Parliament.

On January 19, 2007, journalist Hrant Dink was assassinated in
Istanbul.

His assassination was the culmination of a decade-long campaign
of harassment by the country’s authorities, by the military and
by extremist groups. But it triggered an unprecedented upswell of
solidarity and pro-democracy activism in Turkey after more than 100
000 attended his funeral.

Today, Dink has become an icon of the movement for civil liberties in
Turkey and in Europe. His memory serves as a beacon for intellectuals,
activists and a wider public to challenge prejudice and intolerant
nationalism. Hrant Dink was an Armenian, in a country where Armenians
have long lived in fear. He was a journalist, in a country where,
more than ever free-thinking journalists are subject to pressures
and persecution. And as an advocate of peace, he was reviled by
nationalists.

After his death, Dink’s family and friends established a foundation
that has since continued and broadened his work in Turkey for civil
liberties, for the rights of minorities and for peaceful relations
with neighbours, particularly Armenia.

2015 will mark the 10th anniversary of the start of Turkey’s acession
negotiations and the Centenary of the start of the Armenian Genocide.

The commemoration on January 21 will provide an opportunity to invoke
Hrant Dink’s intellectual and political legacy, and to take stock
of the situation of the movement for civil rights and tolerance that
his assassination helped to start.

CELUI QUI VOULAIT TUER JEAN-PAUL II MET DES FLEURS SUR SA TOMBE

TURQUIE

Mehmet Ali Agca, ancien extremiste turc qui a tente d’assassiner le
pape Jean-Paul II en 1981, a depose des fleurs samedi sur la tombe de
l’ancien souverain pontif. Cet acte de contrition intervient 31 ans
après que le pape polonais a visite M. Agca dans sa prison a Rome,
le pardonnant pour sa tentative d’assassinat qui a failli lui coûter
la vie en 1981. Mehmet Ali Agca, alors âge de 23 ans, avait tire deux
fois a bout portant sur le souverain pontif sur la place Saint-Pierre,
une des balles traversant son abdomen et une autre evitant de peu
son coeur.

M. Agca est revenu, de manière inattendue, a Rome samedi, se
presentant lui-meme a la police pour faire part de son intention
de deposer des fleurs sur la tombe de Jean-Paul II. “J’ai senti
que j’avais besoin de faire ce geste”, a-t-il explique a la police
selon un media italien. M. Agca avait demande une entrevue avec le
pape Francois lors de la visite du souverain pontif en Turquie, le
mois dernier. Elle lui a ete refusee tout comme l’audience qu’il a
demandee ce week-end a Rome. “Il a depose des fleurs sur la tombe de
Jean-Paul II. Je pense que cela suffit”, a estime le porte-parole du
pape Francois, Federico Lombardi, cite par le quotidien La Repubblica.

Les intentions qui ont pousse M. Agca a tirer sur le pape en 1981
restent mysterieuses. Il a purge une peine de près de trente ans dans
des prisons en Italie et en Turquie et semble presenter des troubles
mentaux. Au moment des faits, il etait recherche par les autorites
turques pour une serie de delits et pour ses liens avec le mouvement
d’extreme droite des Loups Gris.

lundi 29 decembre 2014, Stephane (c)armenews.com

PRIME MINISTER HEADS GOVERNMENT COMMISSION SET UP TO ORGANIZE FUNERAL OF VAHAN HOVANNESIAN

YEREVAN, December 29. / ARKA /. Armenian Prime Minister Hovik
Abrahamyan is heading a government commission set up to organize
the funeral of a prominent Armenian politician Vahan Hovannesian,
who passed away Sunday after a long illness at 58. Vahan Hovannesian
was a long-time member of the Bureau of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation/ Dashnaktsutyun party.

Vahan Hovannesian was born on August 16, 1956 in Yerevan. He graduated
with degrees in history and archaeology from the Moscow Pedagogical
Institute in 1978 and received his Pd.D in history. From 1978-1980
he served in the Soviet army.

>From 1980 to 1989 he worked as a research assistant and later as a
head of the scientific research division in the Erebuni Museum. In
1989 he worked as a research assistant in the Institute of Archaeology
and Ethnography under the Academy of Sciences.

>From 1990 to 1992 he was an active member of the Artsakh liberation
movement. From 1990 to 1992 he was a member of the ARF Central
Committee of Armenia, becoming one of the first leaders of the
organization in Armenia when it resurfaced during the latter days
of the Soviet Union. In 1992 he became a member of the ARF Bureau,
but in 1994 he was arrested after then president Levon Ter-Petrosian
started a campaign of persecution against the ARF and shut down the
party’s activities in the homeland.

After Ter-Petrosian’s resignation in 1997, Hovanessian served as
adviser to Armenia’s new president Robert Kocharian and headed the
Commission on issues of Local Self-Government until 1999. In 1999, he
was elected a member of Armenia’s Parliament, becoming chairman of the
Parliamentary Committee on Defense and National Security and Internal
Affairs, and served until 2003 in the ARF’s parliamentary caucus.

On May 25, 2003 he was reelected by the proportional system from
the Armenian Revolutionary Federation and elected Vice-President of
the National Assembly on June 12. He was also a member of both the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation Faction and its bureau. On May
12, 2007 he was elected as a deputy of the National Assembly by the
proportional system from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.

On June 7, 2007 he was elected Vice-President of the National Assembly
and on February 28, 2008 he resigned, after the ARF left the governing
coalition in objection to the state’s plans to sign the Armenia-Turkey
Protocols. On December 28, 2013, Hovannesian was appointed as Armenia’s
Ambassador to Germany.-0-

NOUVEAU CAS D’AGRESSION D’UN ACTIVISTE

ARMENIE

RFE/RL fait etat de l’agression, par deux inconnus, d’un activiste,
Vaghinak Chouchanian, qui avait pris part vendredi dernier
a la manifestation susmentionnee devant le Gouvernement contre
l’augmentation des prix. Il aurait non seulement publiquement insulte
les autorites, dont le President de la Republique, mais egalement
lance un defi au chef adjoint de la police, en lui demandant de

Daily Sabah, Turkey
Dec 27 2014

Istanbul’s budget larger than 80 country’s

As the largest city in Turkey-an important industrial, commercial and
cultural center in the region and a shoo-in for being one of the
biggest 10 megacities in the world-Istanbul has a budget bigger than
the GDPs of 80 countries including Albania, Macedonia and Armenia.

It sounds shocking, but, earlier this week, a record consolidated
budget of 31.9 billion Turkish lira ($13.7 billion) was allocated to
the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality for next year, a figure that
exceeds the budgets for 19 Turkish ministries.

The huge sum begs the question of how fast the city is growing and how
to best manage this growth in both population and transportation.

According to economists, for the growing population of Istanbul the
budget of 31.9 billion lira-ostensibly an astronomical sum-is really a
reasonable amount.

“Istanbul’s population, which is officially 15 million, is higher than
130 countries across the world. Unofficially, it has exceeded 17
million people with unregistered inhabitants and domestic and foreign
tourists,” says Fırat Polat, general coordinator of the Economists
Platform, a firm of Turkish consultants.

Polat says one of the main drivers behind Istanbul’s big budget is its
enormous population: “The budget of 31.9 billion Turkish lira seems a
sufficient amount to manage this megacity and its population.”

According to a 2014 United Nations report, the number of
megacities-those with more than 10 million people-has increased
three-fold globally over the past 24 years.

Today there are 28 megacities including Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, Sao
Paulo, New York, Mexico City, Mumbai, Osaka, Delhi and Dhaka; Istanbul
ranks 23rd on the list.

“For example five years ago, in the beginning of 2010, Istanbul’s
population was 13 million and the consolidated budget of the
municipality was 17.9 billion Turkish lira,” says Polat.

“The number of inhabitants has increased 20 percent in the past five
years while the budget has boomed nearly 75 percent. The rise of the
budget is more than the rise of population which is totally normal.”

However, the experts think that dense urban environments may provide
certain benefits but generate hazards like transportation problems,
traffic jams, pollution and unemployment.

“This mass rush towards Istanbul has created many problems. With the
latest policies, it seems impossible to prevent the population growth
of the city,” Polat says.

The first and maybe the most pressing problem of this growing city is
transportation, experts say.

ITAR-TASS, Russia
December 26, 2014 Friday 02:52 PM GMT+4

Russia to lend Armenia $270 mln to expand nuclear unit lifespan

MOSCOW December 26.

. The Russian government has approved a U.S. $270 million 15-year loan
to Armenia to finance works to expand the lifespan of the country’s
Metsamorskaya nuclear plant, the government said on Friday

Russia and Armenia earlier signed an intergovernmental agreement to
cooperate in prolonging the lifespan of the nuclear plant’s second
unit.

The unit was earlier slated to cease operations in September 2016.

The Metsamorskaya nuclear plant was launched in 1976 and shut down
after a 1988 earthquake. It was re-launched in 1995 due to an energy
crisis. At present, only a second 407.5-megawatt unit is in operation.

Armenia is now planning to build a new, 1,000-MW nuclear plant. –0–gor

Glendale News-Press (California)
December 26, 2014 Friday

Locals pack boxes of supplies for residents in Gyumri

by Kelly Corrigan, Glendale News-Press, Calif.

Dec. 26–An Armenian city still reeling from an earthquake in 1988
that killed more than 25,000 people and displaced thousands of others
will receive more than 30 boxes of winter coats and medical supplies
that donors and members of Unified Young Armenians packed up in
Glendale this week.

This marks the fifth year that Unified Young Armenians has collected
clothing and supplies for a city in Armenia.

This year’s focus turned to Gyumri, which still has nearly 4% of
121,000 residents living in shantytowns more than 25 years after the
7.0 earthquake hit, according to an article on Eurasianet.org, which
provides information about political, economic, environmental and
social developments in the countries such as Armenia.

The area’s weather dips to freezing temperatures and the unemployment
rate is high, according to the article, in which Gyumri City Council
member, Levon Barseghian, said, “The earthquake in Gyumri continues.
For 25 years, we are living over and over again what happened within
41 seconds.”

In Glendale on Monday night, locals packed up 33 boxes with medical
supplies and new or gently used coats, said Aroutin Hartounian,
president of Unified Young Armenians.

The Glendale-based organization also helps mobilize locals to march in
Hollywood each year to commemorate the Armenian Genocide, and it
oversees other community efforts such as hosting election forums or
offering free Saturday school for local youth as young as 6 years old.

Unified Young Armenians partnered this year with United Shipping
Group, also based in Glendale, who volunteered to ship the boxes at no
cost, as they have done in past years.

“There are many people still living in those makeshift bungalows and
it’s a very dire situation,” Hartounian said via a phone interview on
Tuesday, when the temperature in Gyumri was 16 degrees Fahrenheit.

But the donation period isn’t over yet; it won’t end until Dec. 31.

Unified Young Armenians continues to collect gently used or new coats,
hats, gloves and scarves, as well as medical supplies spanning from
wraps and bandages to crutches and hospital beds, which they have
shipped off to Armenia before.

“Whatever we can ship,” Hartounian said.

“Every year, we are lucky enough to have a good amount of
participation from the community, especially younger people who are
more prone to renewing their closets,” he added. “For us, it’s another
way of mobilizing and harnessing the community’s resources and
community’s power.”

FYI

To donate items, drop them off at United Shipping Group’s two
locations: 1307 E. Colorado St. in Glendale or 14103 Victory Blvd. in
Van Nuys.

For more information, call (818) 383-0018.

Armenian politician skeptical about Eurasian integration

15:13 * 27.12.14

In an interview with Tert.am, a former head of the Armenian National
Assembly’s Standing Committee of Foreign Relations expressed his
concerns over the country’s Eurasian Union membership perspectives,
considering the process a major unresolved problem of the past year.

“The year saw very many developments, but what’s important for me is
the unresolved problem that’s going into next year. It has to do the
Eurasian Economic Union, and ridiculously enough, that big trouble or
ordeal turns out to be befalling us on January 2,” Hovhannes Igityan
said, when asked to comment on the political developments of 2014.

The politician said he doesn’t think that the other EEU member states
are so enthusiastic about Eurasian integration as is Armenia. “If you
listen to [Armenian] politicians, all seem to be enthusiastic about
this structure, but we do not see the same enthusiasm in the speeches
of the same member states’ presidents. If we listen to [Belarusian
President Alexander] Lukashenko or [Kazakh President Norsultan]
Nazarbaev, they all speak of the problems arising out of the EEU
membership. And the countries create bodies whose risks have to be
evaluated,” Igityan noted.

According to him, Kazakhstan is the only member state that managed to
pave way to the Eurasian Union without harming previous partnership
relations and cooperation with other foreign countries. “The EEU
treaty has an article which allows [member states] to maintain the
commitments to the states and organizations [they cooperated with]
before. That’s way Nazarbaev signed with rapid efforts both the [EU]
Association Agreement and the EU-Kazakhstan trade bloc in Brussels.
Armenia did not unfortunately manage to sign any treaty or agreement
with the European Union. And if we look into the EEU regulations, all
further agreements have to be between the EU and the EEU. And there
are statements about that in both Russia and Brussels. So the EU has
to conduct negotiations with the EEU when it comes to the signing of
agreements. But in case the EU has agreements with the EEU, the
situation will necessitate determining the quality and level based on
the weakest country’s standards. Hence, our relations will be built
based upon the sanctions and restrictions Russia may face. And that
means our relations with the EU will be similar to those of Russia,”
he added.