Author: nina hovnanian

THE ABCS OF EEU: ACADEMIC DOCUMENTS TO BE STANDARDIZED ACROSS MEMBER COUNTRIES

EDUCATION | 12.02.15 | 15:40

Alina Nikoghosyan
ArmeniaNow intern

After membership in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) no major changes
have been noticed in the Armenian educational system, and one of the
achievements is that all academic documents will be standardized.

Member of National Assembly Standing Committee on Education and
Science, ruling Republican faction MP RuzannaMuradyan told reporters
Thursday that professional qualifications, scientific programs
are expected in the sphere of education soon, and there will be
developments within that circle.

“Each country will accept the EEU country-issued academic diplomas,
only scientific titles will be exempt,” Muradyan said.

Educational expert Anahit Bakshyan numerously addressed questions of
recognition saying that although Minister of Education and Science
ArmenAshotyan claimed that “we have a mutual recognition agreement
with Russia and there is also a legal document in CIS format as
well,” however, Bashkhyan does not know the grounds of that mutual
recognition, thus is skeptical about it.

The media also actively discusses the fact of losing Armenian language;
there are many opinions that after membership in the EEU Russian
will be considered a first language at schools, which however, was
excluded by Muradyan.

“I think it is impossible, Armenian educational system provides its
national educational contents and like all other languages, Russian
is a foreign language,” the MP said.

Muradyan also said that including references to the Armenian Genocide
in history textbooks in the EEU member countries, is being discussed.

“Those questions were frequently raised at meetings with our Russian
colleagues, who will be both by our side and reflecting later on in
their countries about the Genocide,” she said.

JERRY TARKANIAN, SUCCESSFUL AND EMBATTLED BASKETBALL COACH, DIES AT 84

Washington Post
Feb 12 2015

By Matt Schudel February 11 at 7:32 PM

Jerry Tarkanian, a Hall of Fame college basketball coach who won a
national championship and shaped one of the country’s most successful
teams at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, but who was trailed
by scandal and legal wrangles with the NCAA throughout his career,
died Feb. 11 at a hospital in Las Vegas. He was 84.

His son, Danny Tarkanian, a former point guard for his father’s UNLV
Runnin’ Rebels, confirmed the death to the Associated Press. Mr.

Tarkanian had heart ailments and other health problems in recent
years and was hospitalized with an infection.

One of the most colorful and outspoken coaches in the college ranks,
Mr. Tarkanian cultivated an image as a blue-collar outlaw, and his
teams often reflected his scrappy, renegade personality.

With dark circles under his eyes, “Tark the Shark” had a hangdog
appearance, and he often chewed on a water-soaked towel while guiding
his players from the bench.

He arrived at UNLV in 1973, when the university was only 16 years old
and built his team into a national force in men’s basketball. The
school’s nickname of Rebels was even changed by a publicist to
“Runnin’ Rebels,” to reflect the uptempo, high-scoring style of play
that Mr. Tarkanian taught.

During his 19 years at UNLV, Mr. Tarkanian compiled a record of
509-105 and was named national coach of the year four times. His
teams made four appearances in the NCAA’s Final Four, and in 1990
the Runnin’ Rebels won the national title, defeating Duke, 103-73,
in the most lopsided championship game in history. UNLV is the only
team to score more than 100 points in a title game.

Heavily favored to win the title again in 1991, the Runnin’ Rebels
had a perfect 34-0 when they lost, 79-77, to eventual champion Duke
in the Final Four.

But for more than 30 years, Mr. Tarkanian fell under the constant
scrutiny of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the governing
body of college sports.

It began in 1972, when Mr. Tarkanian — then the head coach at Long
Beach State in California — wrote a newspaper column in which he
suggested that some well-known schools broke the NCAA’s rules without
suffering any consequences.

The NCAA soon charged Long Beach State with a variety of rules
violations and put the school on probation for three years.

By then, Mr. Tarkanian had moved on to UNLV, where he was later accused
by the NCAA of irregularities in recruiting and academic standards. The
NCAA recommended that he be suspended from coaching for two years.

Mr. Tarkanian responded by filing suit against the NCAA — not for the
last time — and was able to retain his job when the Nevada Supreme
Court ruled in his favor.

Meanwhile, the Runnin’ Rebels kept on winning and became one of the
prime attractions in Las Vegas. Celebrities sat in front-row seats
dubbed Gucci Row.

“UNLV was Outlaw U.,” Washington Post sportswriter John Feinstein
wrote in 1987. “The Runnin’ Rebels won lots of games, graduated almost
nobody and had cheerleaders who looked and dressed as if they had
just stepped off the stage of a Las Vegas show. Often, they had.”

Mr. Tarkanian’s late-1970s lawsuit against the NCAA, charging that
he had been denied due process, ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme
Court in 1988. The court ruled against him, 5-to-4.

Not long after UNLV’s 1990 national championship, new allegations
against Mr. Tarkanian’s basketball program surfaced, including charges
of academic fraud and illegal payments from boosters. Some of his
players were photographed in a hot tub with a gambler who had been
convicted of fixing games.

Even after an NCAA investigator was quoted in court documents calling
Mr. Tarkanian “rug merchant,” in a derogatory reference to his
Armenian heritage, the NCAA maintained that the idea of a vendetta
against the coach was “an absolute myth.”

As part of an agreement with the NCAA, Mr. Tarkanian left UNLV
in 1992. He briefly coached the San Antonio Spurs in the National
Basketball Association but was fired after 20 games.

In 1995, he returned to college coaching at his alma mater of
Fresno State University in California, but his battles with the NCAA
continued, and he filed suit for continued harassment.

The lawsuit was settled in 1998, when the NCAA agreed to pay Mr.

Tarkanian $2.5 million, but it did not admit any liability.

“They can never, ever, make up for all the pain and agony they caused
me,” Mr. Tarkanian said at the time.

Jerry Tarkanian was born Aug. 8, 1930, in Euclid, Ohio. Both of his
parents were Armenian natives who had fled persecution in Turkey.

His father, a store owner, died when Mr. Tarkanian was 11. The family
then moved to Pasadena, Calif., and lived in poverty.

After attending junior college, Mr. Tarkanian went to Fresno State,
where he played football and basketball before graduating in 1955. He
received a master’s degree in educational administration in 1956 from
the University of Redlands in California.

Mr. Tarkanian coached at three high schools before beginning his
college coaching career in 1961 at Riverside Junior College in
California. He turned a losing team into a champion in one year,
then did the same at Pasadena City College, beginning in 1966. He
moved on to Long Beach State in 1968.

Throughout his career, Mr. Tarkanian’s teams were high-scoring,
but opposing coaches agreed that the secret to his success was his
emphasis on outstanding defensive play. He often recruited players from
junior colleges, from tough backgrounds and often with questionable
academic qualifications.

He developed close bonds with his players, and many said they thought
of Mr. Tarkanian as a father figure. More than 40 of his players went
on to the National Basketball Association, including Reggie Theus,
Armon Gilliam, Greg Anthony and Larry Johnson.

During Mr. Tarkanian’s final coaching stop at Fresno State, he turned
the team into a winner, but he was dogged by a familiar pattern of
problems. He retired for good in 2002.

“Fresno State’s record under Tarkanian resembled a police blotter,”
a 2003 Washington Post story noted, with several players arrested
for grand theft, sexual assault and assault with a deadly weapon,
among other crimes.

When a Post reporter asked Mr. Tarkanian about accusations that
players weren’t writing papers for class, he exploded: “What a stupid
.â~@~I.â~@~I. question that is. How would I know if some idiot that
we don’t even know writes a paper for some guy. We’re supposed to
know all about that?”

Mr. Tarkanian’s official coaching record was 729-201, but more than 50
wins were wiped out as punishment by the NCAA. Counting his earlier
career as a junior college coach, he had as many as 988 victories
and one of the highest winning percentages in history.

He was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
in 2013.

Survivors include his wife of 59 years, Lois Huter Tarkanian,
a Las Vegas councilwoman; four children; a sister; a brother; and
11 grandchildren.

For all his troubles with the NCAA and all the controversy he stirred
with his provocative style, one thing about Mr. Tarkanian that no
one questioned was his ability to inspire and lead a basketball team.

“If I didn’t coach basketball, I don’t know what I would do,” he told
The Post in 1987. “I live for the game, and these kids are what I
put my heart and soul into. Ask them.”

The view from Azerbaijan
By Tony Barber
Feb 12 12:09

Should you find yourself in Baku, skip the Versace store and Emporio
Armani. Go instead to the grand edifice with the Grecian columns that
stands between them, overlooking the Caspian Sea with its fabulous oil
and gas riches.

This building was constructed in 1960, when Azerbaijan was part of the
Soviet Union, to mark Vladimir Lenin’s 90th birthday. It is a vastly
different place these days, hosting the Museum of Azerbaijani
Independence. If you’re in luck, as I was this morning, you will be
the only visitor.

The museum’s narrative framework is summed up in a pamphlet handed to
you in exchange for the 5 manat entrance fee (about $6.30).
`Azerbaijan has been occupied by other countries for many centuries,’
it says. `Azerbaijan attracted these countries with its natural
resources and profitable geographical position. Azerbaijan has many
heroes.’

The visitor is left in no doubt that National Enemy No. 1 is Armenia,
which is depicted as committing atrocities against Azerbaijanis in
1918, as well as in the war of the early 1990s that left Armenia in
control of part of western Azerbaijan, including the territory of
Nagorno-Karabakh.

But the museum also has a disapproving message for Iran: `Thirty
million of our compatriots live on the territory of south Azerbaijan
in Iran up to the present day.’

The 70-year era of Soviet rule is briskly dealt with as an experience
that suppressed the 1918-1920 Azerbaijani Democratic Republic–`the
first democratic, parliamentary and secular republic in the Muslim
world’–and inflicted great suffering in the 1930s in the form of
Josef Stalin’s purges.

However, all this is a prelude to the exhibits in the museum’s sixth
and final hall, which celebrate the life of Heydar Aliyev, a man whose
career is indelibly painted on the past seven decades of Azerbaijani
history, not least because his son, Ilham Aliyev, succeeded him as
president in 2003.

Aliyev père joined the Soviet KGB secret police as a young man in the
1940s, rising up its ranks until he took over as head of the agency’s
Azerbaijani branch in 1967. Two years later he became Azerbaijan’s
communist party chief, lasting 18 years and joining the Politburo in
Moscow until Mikhail Gorbachev sacked him for resisting perestroika.
The museum says nothing about these phases of his career.

Instead it hails his return to public life on June 15, 1993–two years
after Azerbaijan won independence from the Soviet Union, but was
reeling in chaos–as a day that `entered our history as the Day of
National Salvation’.

Aliyev was no democrat, to put it mildly, but it is easy to see why he
is officially revered as the father of the nation. He ended the
disastrous war with Armenia. He is identified with the early era of
Azerbaijan’s newly discovered energy wealth. He put national
independence on a more secure basis.

As it says on a commemorative coin minted in 2004 to honour his
memory: `The independence of Azerbaijan is permanent, eternal,
irreversible.’

The museum’s Aliyev hall is adorned with photographs showing him with
statesmen such as Bill Clinton and Jacques Chirac, the former US and
French presidents. Quotations from his speeches are on wall panels.

But the hall’s pièce de résistance is on the floor–a diorama of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline that pumps Azerbaijani oil to Europe,
bringing billions of dollars to the nation and explaining why Baku’s
seafront bursts with flashy stores selling luxury foreign cars,
jewellery and clothes.

`The most outstanding event in the economic life and overall history
of independent Azerbaijan was the signing of the first international
oil contract [in 1994],’ says the pamphlet.

Oil wealth, and the festering Nagorno-Karabakh sore, are as much part
of modern Azerbaijani reality as the closed political atmosphere and
the personality cult that surrounds the late Aliyev.

However, even in a nation whose leaders are as cautious about change
as in Azerbaijan, things will not stay the same forever.

GAGIK TSARUKIAN TO BE WITHDRAWN FROM NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL OF ARMENIA

YEREVAN, February 12. / ARKA /. Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan told
a meeting of the executive board of his ruling Republican Party of
Armenia that Gagik Tsarukyan, the leader of Prosperous Armenia party,
will be withdrawn from the National Security Council.

“I have signed a decree today to deprive Gagik Tsarukyan of the
status of a member of the Armenian National Security Council. The
supreme security body of the country is not a movie theater, which
one may come to and leave when he wants,” he said in a statement,
posted on the official website of the Republican Party of Armenia.

The president reminded that Tsarukyan was present at only 4 sessions
out of 145 of the National Assembly in 2013-2014.

“If he neglects his electors and the National Assembly, we do not
have this right: we are responsible for the right of every citizen of
Armenia. Our deputies will initiate tomorrow steps which are necessary
to exit from this absurd situation,” he said.

The president said “for many years the situation with anecdotal
reports of unpaid taxes in billions of drams has not been clarified.

These are the billions stolen from pensioners, from young people’s
right to education in return for small, so-called” charity “.

“I urge the prime minister to instruct relevant bodies to completely
and thoroughly check the veracity of these rumors and present the
results to all,” said Sargsyan.

The president said that there are unchecked reports also about creating
a scheme for concealing numerous criminal offenses.

“Tomorrow I will convene a meeting of the Security Council to discuss
with our law enforcement bodies what to do with such rumors, >>
he said. “In conclusion, I would like to say that my entire speech
was about a political or rather a pseudo-political phenomenon called
Gagik Tsarukyan.

I do not see any problem related to him as a citizen of Armenia and
businessman, if, of course, rumors about the problems with the law
are not refuted, said the president.

Speaking last Thursday at a conference of non-ruling parties initiated
by his party Tsarukyan said that “with the help of a nationwide
movement gaining strength with every passing day we will force the
authorities to feel responsibility for the current situation and
replace the current regime in the next elections “.

Prosperous Armenia is the second largest force in the parliament
controlling 36 seats. It was part of coalition governments from 2007
to 2012. Now it positions itself as an alternative political force.

—-0—–

IIGHRS’ PRESIDENT SETS RECORD STRAIGHT ON TURKEY’S TREATMENT OF JEWS

By MassisPost
Updated: February 11, 2015

TORONTO — On January 27, 2015 a Holocaust commemoration was organized
in Ottawa, the capital city of Canada, a country that officially
recognizes the Armenian Genocide. There, the Turkish Ambassador was
one of the keynote speakers.

However, the invitation of the Turkish ambassador to speak drew sharp
criticism from some, including several of the politicians and members
of the public in attendance because of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel
views expressed by some Turkish leaders in recent years. Earlier,
at a meeting of the speakers of 30 European parliaments held in
Prague, Czech Republic, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day,
Turkey was the only European country that did not sign a declaration
against contemporary manifestations – including Holocaust denial –
of anti-Semitism.

“I share those concerns,” said Ottawa event co-organizer Floralove
Katz. “However, during the Holocaust, the Turkish government was the
only government in Europe that instructed its diplomats to save as
many Jews as possible.”

Wishing to set the historical record straight, Mr. K.M. Greg
Sarkissian, President of the International Institute for Genocide
and Human Rights Studies (A Division of the Zoryan Institute) sent
the following communication to the comment section of the Ottawa
Jewish Bulletin.

K.M. Greg Sarkissian’s remarks are as follows:

The invitation of the Turkish Ambassador to speak at the International
Holocaust Remembrance Day commemoration in Ottawa on January 27 drew
sharp criticism from several of the politicians and the members of
diplomatic core attending the event, and many Canadians complained.

The organizers showed great insensitivity by inviting the official
representative of Turkey, a country that aggressively denies its role
in the Armenian Genocide, to an event commemorating another genocide,
the Holocaust, both of which are officially recognized by the Canadian
Government.

This distress is all the more painful, since the Turkish Ambassador’s
presence was justified by false information, in response to the
criticism raised, causing insult over injury. Event co-organizer
Floralove Katz claimed that “during the Holocaust, the Turkish
government was the only government in Europe that instructed its
diplomats to save as many Jews as possible.” In fact, only Jews
of Turkish background were aided by Turkish embassies in Europe,
and then only clandestinely. Yad Vashem has recognized only one
Turkish diplomat for rescuing Jews, Selahattin Ulkumen, the Turkish
Consul-General in Rhodes. Necdet Kent, the Turkish Consul-General
in Marseilles also assisted many Jews to flee France for Turkey,
but it grossly overstates the case to say that “Turkey instructed
its diplomats to save as many Jews as possible.” Despite the Turkish
propaganda, current research shows that Turkey was far from welcoming
toward Jews during the Holocaust era.

In commemorating the Holocaust, it is important to remember its
interconnectedness with the Armenian Genocide. Many German soldiers
and diplomats who were active in Turkey during the Armenian Genocide
went on to become influential Nazis. The success of the Armenian
Genocide and the failure to punish those responsible encouraged and
emboldened Nazi leaders in their racist and genocidal plans. On the eve
of WWII, Hitler boasted of his ability to exterminate entire civilian
populations and get away with it, saying, “Who today remembers the
annihilation of the Armenians?”

There are numerous parallels and links between the Holocaust and the
Armenian Genocide, too many to go into here. When commemorating the
Holocaust, it behooves us not only to remember this history, but its
many lessons. As Raphael Lemkin, the man who coined the word “genocide”
referring to many mass atrocities including the Armenian Genocide,
and devoted his life to establishing an international law for its
prevention and punishment wrote, “…the function of memory is not
only to register past events, but to stimulate human conscience.”

ARMENIAN CHURCH CELEBRATES THE FEAST OF ST. VARTAN THE CAPTAIN AND COMPANIONS.

17:28, 12 Feb 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

On February 12 a Holy Liturgy was celebrated at the Mother See of
Holy Etchmiadzin on the Feast of St. Vartan the Captain and Companions.

The Feast of St. Vartan the Captain and his 1036 Companions marks
their martyrdom in the battle of Avarayr, fighting for the freedom of
conscience and religion for the Armenian Nation. It was to be the first
testimony of many to follow that the Armenians were a people who freely
chose Christ, remained steadfast in their Christian faith, and would
not betray that faith for any ransom. “Vartanants” as it is commonly
called, is one of the most sacred feasts of the Armenian people.

In the Armenian Church, the Feast day of St. Vartan the Captain
and Companions is also celebrated as the Naming Day of His Holiness
Karekin II. To mark the occasion, at the conclusion of Divine Liturgy,
a Pontifical Prayer is offered before the Holy Altar of Descent.

THE STATE DOES NOT PROTECT CITIZENS DEPRIVED OF THEIR HOMES FOR THE SAKE OF EMINENT DOMAIN

February 12 2015

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has issued about 10
judgments, which recognize the violations of the property owners’
rights for the territory in the center of Yerevan recognized as an
“eminent domain”, but it has not yet caused systemic changes. This
is proved by the group of civil society organizations. Studying our
country’s social, economic and cultural rights, the group prepared
a report. Despite the ECHR’s decisions, in one case, the government
has not compensated the amount provided for destroy of a citizen’s
property. In other cases, the government, in violation of the decision
on reconciliation agreement, has offered the plaintiffs some apartments
in newly built private residential buildings, which, however, were
actually sold to other people. The authors of the report mention that
in compliance to the RA Law on “Alienation of Property for Public and
State Needs”, the state does not guarantee the protection for the
rights of its citizens whose property is alienated “for public and
state needs.” “Though the decision-maker is the government, anyway,
the agreements on alienation of the property are signed between the
former and the new owners, and the government refuses to take any
responsibility. Currently, there are hundreds of homeless victims
suffered from “public use” who were deceived by companies that have
promised to give them new apartments instead of their property, which,
however, were not built in time, or were sold to more than one owner,
or were simply declared default for no-execution of other contractual
obligations,” says the report, which was submitted to the UN Human
Rights Council by the group of civil society organizations. Note
that the Open Society Foundations – Armenia organization supported
the preparation works of this report.

According to the study of the group, currently, 365 owners have become
homeless, because one of the companies was recognized bankrupt.

Several companies did not provide building of a new property instead
of the confiscated one. Others have sold the ready-made apartments to
a few owners. The authors of the document mentioned that in 2005, 34
families in Syunik have lost their private lands without a notice and
agreement because of a road construction. “The promises of compensation
still remain hanging in the air, to the point, the residents still
pay the property tax for their lost lands.” The members of the group,
studying the alienation practice in our country, also record that
the public property is managed and sold by failing to ensure public
participation in the decision-making process, though such practice is
prohibited by a number of legal acts. “The decisions of administrative
bodies are not disputed in the courts, as it’s difficult for the
citizens to prove how their rights are violated.

Moreover, NGOs do not receive a proper plaintiff status for the cases
related to public interest and resources. In September 2010, the
Constitutional Court’s decision ratified that in some defined spheres,
the justice should be available to NGOs, if the protection of rights in
these spheres is provided by the NGO Charters, as well as the cases,
by which the lower courts instances have been ineffective.” To avoid
all of this, the member of the group offer making amendments in
the RA Law on “Alienation of Property for Public and State Needs”,
by clarifying the grounds for recognition of “eminent domain”.

Lusine BUDAGHYAN

Read more at:

CENTENAIRE DU GENOCIDE ARMENIEN : LES PROVOCATIONS D’ERDOGAN

REVUE DE PRESSE

À mesure que s’approche la commemoration du centenaire du genocide
armenien, prevue le 24 avril 2015, le president turc Recep Tayyip
Erdogan multiplie les provocations a l’egard d’Erevan, eloignant un
peu plus tout espoir de reconciliation.

lire la suite…

jeudi 12 fevrier 2015, Stephane (c)armenews.com

MR. AND MRS. NALBANDIANS OF TORONTO FINANCING MAJOR RENOVATION OF SCHOOL OF NALBANDYAN VILLAGE

14:26, 12 February, 2015

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s Toronto
benefactors Mr. and Mrs. Armen and Berjouhi Nalbandians have undertaken
the project of major renovations of the school at the Nalbandian
Village in the Armavir region of Armenia.

The Public Relations Department of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund
informed “Armenpress” that the school has over 600 students. The
school which was originally built in 1967, is a 3-story building and
together with the gymnasium has a total surface area of about 3,200
square meters (34,700 ft2). The project entails a total redesign of
the floor areas, including the entire stairway, reinforcement of the
walls for seismic endurance, electrical, rebuilding of the floors
with parquet and granite, new washroom facilities for all the floors,
total renovation of the gymnasium and its surrounding facilities, other
internal improvements and general landscaping of the school area. In
the past years, the school had gone through very limited renovations
and replacements such as the roof, the heating system and the doors.

“With this new project Toronto has been continuing its quest of
undertaking school building projects in Armenia and Artsakh.” said
the chair of Toronto Chapter of the Fund, Migirdic Migirdicyan.

NEXT PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH SLATED FOR MAY 3, 2015

STEPANAKERT, February 12. / ARKA /. The next parliamentary elections
in Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) are scheduled for May 3, 2015,
NKR president’s press office reported. It said a relating decree was
signed by president Bako Sahakyan today.

Previous parliamentary elections were held in Nagorno-Karabakh on
May 23, 2010. The current parliament is composed of five factions –
the Armenian Revolutionary Federation/Dashnaktsutyun, Democracy,
Homeland parties and Artsakhatun (Artsakh House) parliamentary group.

The previous parliamentary elections were watched by about 120
international observers from 15 countries: Armenia, Slovakia, Russia,
the Czech Republic, USA, Canada, South Ossetia, France, Argentina,
Iran, Germany, Abkhazia, Holland, Denmark and Transnistria.

The poll watchers recognized the elections as legitimate, free,
democratic, transparent, fully meeting the NKR Electoral Code and
the international standards.-0-