Author: Tumanian Talar

The Messenger, Georgia
Dec 30 2009

Armenian transit prospects

By Messenger Staff Thursday, December 31

Armenian political analysts and senior state officials all highlight
the wide prospects for economic and transport development if the
Armenian-Turkish border is reopened. Finance Minister Tigran Davtian
has stated that if the border opens Armenia will be integrated with
the Euro-Asian railway and automobile transport network and Armenian
forwarders will be able to access Europe through Turkey. This will
also facilitate Armenia’s access to the Black Sea ports of Trabzon and
Samsun and considerably decrease the transportation costs of Armenian
businessmen and facilitate the development of the appropriate
infrastructure.

This optimism is challenged by some analysts, who say that if the
border is opened the closest Black Sea port will be Trabzon, but
unlike Samsun there is no railway connection with it. However the
closest Black Sea port to Armenia regardless of whether the border
opens is actually Poti in Georgia, and the route to and from there has
been established for some time.

Many different assessments are being made about the consequences of
opening the Turkish-Armenian border but they are usually expressed as
dreams and hopes for the future rather than reflecting the realities
which might occur if the border opens in the near future.

TURKS DEMAND FREEDOM FOR ARMENIAN INTELLECTUAL

Hurriyet Daily News
Dec 27 2009
Turkey

Sarkis Haszpanyan was tortured in Turkey in the aftermath of the Sept.

12, 1980, military coup, his friends say.

Turkish intellectuals have launched an online petition protesting
the imprisonment of an Armenian who was arrested after he gave a
newspaper interview in 2008.

The petition, published at the gercek-inatcidir.blogspot.com, is an
effort to free Sarkis Haszpanyan, who was arrested and imprisoned
in Armenia after he gave an interview. The petition was launched by
Sait Cetinoglu, author and editor at Belge International Publishing,
and received more than 30 signatures in its first day.

The support is coming not only from Turkish intellectuals living in
Turkey but also from other parts of the world. Visitors to the site
can read an open letter to Armenian President Serge Sarkisian penned
by Turkish intellectuals.

"Haszpanyan is being punished unjustly. Let this torture end," said
Cetinoglu, speaking to Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review. "Sarkis
was tortured in Turkey in the aftermath of the Sept. 12, 1980, military
coup. He escaped to France as a refugee. In 1991, when Armenia gained
independence, he went there and put up a struggle. This should not
be his fate."

Temel Demirel, another leader of the campaign, said Haszpanyan is
"a part of Anatolia."

Demirel said he and Haszpanyan were tortured at the same time after
the 1980 coup. "Authoritarian regimes that imprison and torture people
because of their thoughts are enemies of humanity and democracy,"
he said.

For an interview

What led to his imprisonment was a November 2008 interview published
in the Haygagan Jamanag (Armenian Time) newspaper, known for supporting
Armenia’s first president, Levon Ter-Petrossian. Armenia was preparing
for the presidential elections at the time.

"[In the interview] Hazspanyan said some people might be planning to
assassinate Sarkisian," Hayk Kevorkyan from the newspaper told the
Daily News. "He was arrested right after the interview was published."

"They were already looking for an excuse to arrest him. The interview
played right into their hands," Kevorkyan said, adding that there are
currently 15 political prisoners in Armenia. "Bloody events occurred
right after the March 2008 presidential elections, which are still
waiting to be uncovered. At that time, 150 people were arrested and
questioned for completely political reasons."

David Shahnazarian, a representative of the Armenian National Congress,
or ANC, congratulated Turkish intellectuals on their efforts. "We
want Armenia to respect human rights, democracy and [freedom of]
thought as soon as possible," he told the Daily News.

Shahnazarian is known as the "right hand" of Ter-Petrossian and was
the president of the Armenian National Security Council in the 1990s.

Born in Hatay, Sarkis Haszpanyan was an active member of an outlawed
communist organization in Turkey in the 1970s, together with the late
Hrant Dink, who was a close friend of his. Dink was assassinated in
Istanbul on Jan. 19, 2007.

RPA: FORCEFUL OPPOSITION CAN MAKE THE RULING POWER STRONG

PanARMENIAN.Net
28.12.2009 12:23 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ 2009 was a hard year for Armenia, said Eduard
Sharmazanov, RPA parliamentary group secretary.

"Armenia has experienced a serious economic crisis but thanks to
the correct policy of the Prime Minister the republic avoided grave
shocks," he told a news conference on Monday.

As to power-opposition relationship, Mr. Sharmazanov said, "Armenia
has changed. Forceful opposition can make the ruling power strong. It
should also be engaged in political consultations."

Saturday, December 26, 2009 8:39:00 AM

For three families in the city, Christmas falls on January 6

Vaishalli Chandra / DNA

Michael Stephen will be visiting St Mary’s Armenian Church in Chennai
on January 6, where he will decorate the altar with flowers, light
candles and ring the bell to commemorate the birth of the King, Jesus
Christ.

The Stephens, living on the HAL Airport Road, will not be the only
ones in the city to celebrate Christmas on January 6. With them will
be two more families, the Minases and Eknayans. They are the three
Armenian families settled in Bangalore.

The Armenian Orthodox Church still reckons its year by the Julian
Calendar and celebrates the birth of Christ on January 6 (also known
as Old Christmas).

Though they are set to celebrate Christmas next month, the three
families here were very much part of the festivities happening around
them. Here in the city, these families celebrate Christmas twice. So
do their friends and neighbours.

`We are celebrating Christmas today, but the actual celebration will
be on January 6, the day it is Christmas for us,’ said Paul Minas, a
third generation Armenian in the city. Apart from the difference in
dates, the festivities are the same. Minas will hold a special service
at his home in Banaswadi on January 6. His Christian friends will also
attend the service.

On Friday, Minas also joined the celebrations. `It is Christmas, and
we celebrated with our Roman Catholic and Protestant friends,’ he
said, adding that for them it is a double celebration as they exchange
gifts on December 25 as well as on January 6.

For Maureen Eknayan, Christmas gives an opportunity to stroll down
memory lane. `My husband and I will go to Bombay (now Mumbai). After
the service, the families will get together for a grand meal,’ she
said, recalling that the service lasted three hours and was in
Armenian, the language spoken by 97.7% of the population in her
Motherland.

Maureen’s father was part of the choir in Kolkata, the city with the
most number of Armenians. Besides Kolkata, Mumbai and Bangalore are
home to the 125-odd Armenians in the country.

Stephen, who had been to Armenia during Christmas, spoke about the
difference in celebrations. `Eighty percent of the congregation there
stand during the service at the main Cathedral. We are so used to the
pews here.’

For Armenians, the week preceding January 6 is one of fasting. They
avoid meat (seafood not included), and eat a light meal a
day. Stephen, however, added that only 15% of the Armenians observe
the fast these days.

On January 5, families attend church and celebrate the Christmas Eve
Divine Liturgy. They do the same on the morning of January 6, and
observe that day as the Feast of the Theophany (the Manifestation of
God).

Minas said he will have dolma – minced meat and baked potato pudding
served with brown rice – for Christmas. The spices and herbs, he said,
are available at Thom’s Bakery in Frazer Town.

`My mother-in-law sends some of the herbs to us,’ said Maureen. She
said that earlier in Mumbai, they used to have lavash, a bread similar
to naan, and delicacies like kuku pilaf – rice cooked with greens and
omelette.

© 2005-2009 Diligent Media Corporation Ltd. All rights reserved.

wsid=3D1327642

NOTE.
The reporter has made an error for the following:-
Mrs.Maureen Ekanayan is not armenian,she is anglo-indian and is wife of
late Peter Eknayan whose mother Rosie Eknayan continues to take care
of our church at Mumbai.

Photos of the Ekanayan and Minas family were not included as they were not
submitted by the respective families to the reporter.

A SUPERMARKET IN ESTONIA: THE BEST SORT OF EASTWARD EXPANSION

The Economist
Dec 25 2009

FOOD in Europe’s ex-communist countries has an undeservedly bad
reputation: stodgy peasant fare ruined by the culinary commissars of
the planned economy. Your columnist has long disagreed, but proof is
needed. So, on a recent visit to a supermarket in Tallinn, Estonia’s
capital, he set out to construct a winter picnic entirely from local
ingredients.

The basis was easy: black bread, pungent and tasty. It makes loaves
from the west and south of Europe seem bland and boring. So into the
shopping basket went four or five different varieties, with different
features: seeds, rye, crunchy and chewy by turns.

Alamy

Aisle be thereThe mainstay of the picnic was pricey at â~B¬15 ($22),
but succulent–a smoked salami from Lithuania. Accompanying it in
the shopping basket were a gourmet smoked cheese from Estonia, a
tin of smoked sprats (Latvia), Polish pickled mushrooms, plus Czech
horseradish and Hungarian hot peppers. Who says eastern Europe is a
vitamin-free zone? For dessert, Polish "chocolate plums" from the
SolidarnoÅ~[Ä~G confectionery works are a fine offering. So were
crispy, crunchy gingerbread biscuits (Estonian) and a packet of dried
apple rings (Polish).

The shopper wanting alcoholic drinks is spoiled for choice. Estonia is
the country that pioneered the vodka box–a five-litre freezer-filler
much favoured by Finnish tourists dodging their own country’s punitive
duties on alcohol. Your columnist is partial to Å"ubrówka, which
should have a stem of bison grass in every bottle and gives the whiff
of a summer meadow even in the depths of winter. Poland is the main
source, though you can also find it in Belarus and Ukraine.

But drinking vodka at a picnic is not to everyone’s taste. Wine works
better. Your columnist always tries to use his budget to punish
protectionism and support freedom-lovers, which can lead to some
conflict with wine snobs. The supermarket had a range of cut-price
offerings from the Balkans, including Macedonia and Moldova. But the
intelligent consumer should encourage those who are trying to move
upmarket, as opposed to those competing at the bottom end. Pricey
bottles from Ukraine and Russia were on offer too, but only sweet
wines: a big headache in every bottle, at least in your columnist’s
experience.

A good range of Georgian wine was more tempting: the basket was soon
laden by a promising-looking upmarket Saperavi, for the equivalent
of â~B¬12. But Georgian wine can be a bit inconsistent. For safety,
a few beers never go amiss, especially if a sauna is in the offing.

Estonia’s Saku and Le Coq are both good lagers, but the final choice
was a brace of real Czech Budweiser (so much better than the fizzy,
insipid American version) and some Polish Å"ywiec.

For a post-prandial snifter, Armenian brandy was a strong contender.

But throwing caution to the winds, your columnist plumped for a bottle
of Estonian dessert wine. Grapes do grow even in northerly Estonia,
and wine-growers have been known to make something drinkable from
them. But this bottle was from the Põltsamaa winery, which uses
apples and berries.

Soft drinks are more distinctive. Western-style juices and fizzy drinks
are ubiquitous, but more interesting local concoctions are on the
shelves too. A carton of Ukrainian birch sap was irresistible, along
with one of the greatest treats in the northern part of eastern Europe:
sea-buckthornberry juice. This is bright orange, more like a puree
than a juice, and has an incomparable astringent and invigorating kick.

The taste requires some acquiring; your columnist drinks it neat, but
it also makes a useful ingredient for other cocktails–mixed with birch
sap, for example. The toast at the picnic was to free trade in food:
who needs protectionism when you have stuff that consumers really want?

FESTIVE NEW YEAR CONCERT TO BE HELD ON DECEMBER 26 AT RA PARLIAMENT’S PARK

NOYAN TAPAN
December 25, 2009
Yerevan

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 25, NOYAN TAPAN. A festive New Year concert will be
held on December 26 at the RA parliament park within the framework of
the RA National Assembly Open Doors program. Noyan Tapan was informed
about it by the RA National Assembly Press Office.

RATIFICATION SHOULD BE DEALT WITH VIA A "VISIONARY" APPROACH: DAVUTOGLU

news.am
Dec 24 2009
Armenia

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu reiterated Ankara position on
Armenia-Turkey Protocols. According to him, reconciliation is linked
with Karabakh peace process, Asbarez reports referring to Hurriyet
Daily News.

The source quotes Davutoglu as saying, "Normalization at the
bilateral level is linked with an improvement in the situation in
Nagorno-Karabakh. The Turkish-Armenian border has been closed for
years but we are still trying to resolve this issue. If the same kind
of good intention can be shown on the other issue, then it may reach
a further level as well."

Asked about Armenian officials’ statements that the protocols will
be annulled if Turkey does not ratify them till April 2010, Turkish
FM replied that "the issue should be dealt with via a ‘visionary’
approach instead of by enacting arbitrary deadlines", the source says.

Davutoglu refuted rumors that he intends to visit Israel, confirming
Ankara’s stance on Tel-Aviv actions in Gaza. He recalled the words
of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, that world powers should force
Israel to end Gaza’s blockade. FM wonders, "Should we now call Carter
anti-Semitic for what he said?"

AZERBAIJANI FM TO VERIFY ACCURACY OF ARMENIAN MEDIA REPORTS
N. Abdullayeva

Today
cs/58497.html
Dec 24 2009
Azerbaijan

"The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry will verify accuracy of the Armenian
media reports," Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Elkhan
Polukhov said.

He was commenting on Armenian media reports claiming that UK-Karabakh
parliamentary group has been set up at the UK House of Lords.

"The Foreign Ministry has sent an inquiry to the Azerbaijan embassy
in the United Kingdom to find out whether the reports are true,"
Polukhov added.

"Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry will learn whether UK-Karabakh
parliamentary group has been set up and take relevant measures
depending on the response," he said.

PURCHASE AND SALE TRANSACTIONS OF 17 MILLION 658 THOUSAND DOLLARS CONDUCTED AT NASDAQ OMX ARMENIA OJSC ON DECEMBER 23

Noyan Tapan
Dec 23, 2009

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 23, NOYAN TAPAN. Purchase and sale transactions of
17 million 658 thousand dollars at the weighted average exchange rate
of 376.55 drams per dollar were conducted at Nasdaq OMX Armenia OJSC
on December 23. According to the press service of the Central Bank
of Armenia, the closing price made 376.5 drams.

CCAF CONDEMNS THE LIE OF GEORGIA’S FOREIGN MINISTER DURING THE CASE OF JAVAHK ACTIVIST VAHAGN CHAKHALYAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
23.12.2009 17:27 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Coordination Committee of Armenian Organizations
in France (CCAF) issued a statement, condemning the lie of Georgia’s
Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze with regards to Javahk politician
Vahagn Chakhalyan, Yerkir Union reported to PanARMENIAN.Net.

"CCAF condemns the outrageous lie Georgia’s Foreign Minister Grigol
Vashadze uttered in the presence of French National Assembly’s Foreign
Affairs Parliamentary Committee members on November 25, 2009. When
replying the question of French parliamentarian Francois Rochebloine
on Vahagn Chakhalyan case, Georgia’s Foreign Minister lied about the
reasons for his conviction and fairness of legal case conducted.

The council demands Georgian authorities to immediately liberate Vahagn
Chakhalyan, rehabilitating his rights and urges the Eurocomissioner
for human rights protection and PACE to send a mission to Georgia to
monitor the implementation of European Convention on Human Rights.