Author: Tumanian Talar

KALININGRAD, KURIL ISLAND, KARS
NAIRA HAYRUMYAN

rahos||politics&pid=15065
14:43:05 – 03/09/2009

The protocols on beginning the Armenian-Turkish consultations and
on establishment of bilateral relations, whether by accident, or
specifically, were released on the day of the beginning of the Second
World War. It is known that the current borders between states are
mostly the result of this war and states build their relations on the
agreements concluded on the basis of the surrender of Nazi Germany
and the Yalta meeting of Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill.

More than 60 years have already past but territorial disputes are
still ongoing between countries. The most striking of them is the
one for the Kuril Islands. Japan still considers to have the right to
claim the Kuril Islands and even recently, after 60 years, it adopted
a law declaring the Kuril Islands an integral part of Japan.

On the day of the release of the Armenian-Turkish protocols, the
world shook from the ringing of bells of Katyn, a village in Poland,
where the victims of the Nazi-Soviet collusion were 10 thousand
Poles. Vladimir Putin again had to apologize for Stalin’s perfidy. The
Reich Chancellor Angela Merkel also had to apologize.

Germany paid dearly for fascism not counting the billions of
indemnities, which it pays up to this day, Germany has lost
Koenigsberg, the present Kaliningrad region of Russia. The point to
cede Koenigsberg was recorded in the pact of surrender and now Germany
does not even think to raise the issue of the return of their lands,
despite the fact that the pact of surrender is signed by already non-
existing Soviet Union.

However, after the Second World War, despite the pressure, defeated
Japan never signed a peace treaty which had the point to cede the
Kuril Islands to Russia. And Russia, in fact, keeps the islands only
by force.

A similar situation exists in the Armenian-Turkish relations. If
Armenia recognizes the current border with Turkey, it will lose forever
not only hope to return its western provinces but it will also lose all
interest for the world community. No one will need Armenia any longer,
which means that it will be thrown to the dustbin of the history.

Commenting on the Armenian-Turkish protocols, the traditional
Armenian parties and the opposition say that the establishment of the
historic commission may eliminate the international recognition of
the genocide. However, the fact that the recognition of the genocide
will make sense for Turkey because in case of a total recognition,
Armenia will have the right to impose territorial claims is not taken
into account. This factor is not used against Turkey by Armenia,
but it raises Armenia’s geopolitical importance.

Turkey fears of territorial claims. And if Armenia testifies by
documents that it has no territorial claims and it recognizes the
current borders, there is no doubt that Turkey itself the next day
will recognize the genocide and maybe even ask for forgiveness and
the issue will be resolved. Just like the issue of Kaliningrad and
Eastern Poland, excluded from the Western world in result of the
Second World War.

WILL DEMAND RESIGNATION IF KNOWN TO BE ELECTED

ant-margaryan
02:20 pm | September 03, 2009 | Politics

The ARF demanded the resignation of Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan
during yesterday’s rally.

"A1+" had a blitz conversation with ARF Bureau representative Hrant
Margaryan.

"A1+": Mr. Margaryan, you are demanding the foreign minister’s
resignation, but the first person to lead the country’s foreign policy
is the president. Don’t you think Serzh Sargsyan is responsible
for the flaws and errors registered in the process of normalizing
Turkish-Armenian relations?

Hrant Margaryan: We have never said that Serzh Sargsyan is not
responsible, but the demand for his resignation will mean something
else. We are a political party and responsible for the country. We
can’t demand the president’s resignation on every occasion. By
demanding the Foreign Minister’s resignation, we are showing the
president a new path for leading his policy anew. Unfortunately,
our voice is not heard. But that doesn’t mean that the president is
not responsible for that policy.

"A1+": So, you are waiting to see the foreseen dangers and then demand
the resignation.

H. M.: That is not an issue of concern for us today because the demand
for Serzh Sargsyan’s resignation means new elections within 40 days and
if we don’t have the confidence that we will win in those elections 40
days later, it is a risk that may end with negative consequences. We
can’t constantly subject the country to convulsions. This country
must finally reach change of power through subsequent elections.

"A1+": Even at the account of the country’s security.

H. M.: I don’t think that the issue is one to be discussed at that
level. The process going on today is wrong and our efforts are aimed
at preventing that danger. We hope that we will be able to prevent it.

HUSAMETTIN CINDORUK: "MAY SARGSYAN NOT COME TO TURKEY"

APA
Sept 4 2009
Azerbaijan

Baku – APA. Leader of Turkish Democratic Party, former speaker of
the parliament Husamettin Cindoruk criticized the government for
its agreement with Armenia, APA reports quoting Haberturk. Cindoruk
said during the iftar dinner in Eskishehir that the government
made surprise statement about initialing of two protocols with
Armenia. "We hurt Azerbaijan, which has same language, religion and
roots with us. Azerbaijan is our brother. Armenia occupied twenty
percent of Azerbaijani lands. There are graves of Karabakh martyrs
in Baku. What will happen if president of Armenia, which occupied a
part of Azerbaijan’s territory, comes to Bursa football match? May
him not come. Is there any use hurting Azerbaijan for that?!"

Cindoruk said they had no problems with Armenia. "Armenians live in
comfort in Istanbul. Our problem is the Armenia’s enmity and aggressive
actions against Azerbaijani Turks".

BERBERIAN TAKES ‘SAGAYN’ ON THE ROAD

takes-%e2%80%98sagayn%e2%80%99-on-the-road/
Sep 1, 2009

VAN NUYS-After 18 sold out performances in Glendale California, actor,
writer and painter Vahe Berberian is taking his latest monologue
"Sagayn" on the road, kicking off in Armenia, then Syria and finally
Lebanon.

"The response to the show has been sensational and I am thrilled
about this tour," says Berberian, "The LA audiences were extremely
receptive and I had a blast performing for them." Sagayn producer
Christina Shirinyan says, "We had an incredibly diverse audience that
simply loved it and kept on coming back for more."

In the next year and a half, Sagayn will be performed in over 18
cities all over the Middle East, Asia, North America, South America,
Australia and Europe.

The first phase starts in Yerevan where Vahe will have performances on
September 17 and 18, then two shows in Aleppo on September 26 and 27,
and finally two shows in Beirut on October 2 and 3.

"What is exciting about this phase of the tour is that it starts in
our homeland Armenia, then passes through Aleppo, where Vahe’s father
grew up, and then Beirut, where he grew up," adds Shirinyan.

Berberian finds it fascinating to see audience reactions through
various parts of the world. "I am looking forward to performing in
so many different communities, especially since the whole theme
of Sagayn is centered around the characteristics we all share as
Armenians," says Berberian, who has had similar tours for his three
other monologues Yevaylen, Nayev and Dagaveen.

For more information about the Sagayn tour you can visit

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IS DISCUSSED IN THE MIDDLE EAST

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.09.2009 01:50 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A conference to discuss what is termed the Armenian
Genocide will be the first gathering of its kind in the Middle East
to bring together Armenian, Turkish and Kurdish views, The National
reports.

Participants at the two-day event in Beirut will discuss how the
international community and international law should recognise the
First World War events.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in protest against
Armenia’s support for the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh,
previously controlled by Azerbaijan. But this week, Turkey said it
hoped to open the border by the end of the year, and the two countries
have given themselves six weeks to finalise accords over establishing
relations before presenting them to their respective parliaments.

The protocol to establish diplomatic ties does not detail how the
genocide accusations will be dealt with, although one suggestion from
the Turkish side has been that a historical commission is established
to look into the issue.

Issues being focused on at the academic conference, titled The Armenian
Genocide and International Law, include genocide denial in Turkey,
alleviating the consequences of genocide and how the massacres have
affected Kurdish-Armenian relations.

Another subject is the evolution of the Armenian genocide denial in
the Turkish press, which is likely to note that media in Turkey now
more readily use the term genocide than before.

Antranig Dakessian, a conference organiser and executive secretary
of the Haigazian Armenological Review, published by Beirut’s Armenian
university, Haigazian University, said the conference was not debating
whether the massacres were genocide. Instead, it will look at the
reasons behind what Mr Dakessian called "genocide denial".

Also, he said, the impunity of those responsible for the genocide
has encouraged other people to commit genocide.

"The Armenian genocide is an established reality," he said. "We have t
‘re trying to highlight how to deal with the consequences."

Another organiser, Vera Yacoubian, executive director of the Armenian
National Committee Middle East, and the great-granddaughter of
Armenians driven from former Western Armenia, said similar conferences
have been held before in Europe or the United States, but not in the
Middle East.

She said she believed some Turkish participants do not recognise the
killings as genocide, so the conference would see a variety of views
expressed. "They may say there were massacres," she said. "We have
people at the conference [who hold these views], but I’m not sure if
they will say these things at the conference. I hope they do."

MINISTER: ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT CURBS UNEMPLOYMENT GROWTH

/ARKA/
September 2, 2009
YEREVAN

On Wednesday, Armenian Labor and Social Affairs Minister Gevork
Petrosyan, summarizing the results of Armenian-Swedish-Lithuanian
program aimed at improvement of labor market policy, said that the
government has managed to curb unemployment growth in the country.

He told journalists that the government has taken steps to prevent
job cuts.

The minister said that the government’s efforts have produced certain
effect – job cuts are unlikely in the coming months.

He said that the government has allocated funds for combating
unemployment in Syunik, Armenian province, and intends to continue
its policy.

"Despite the global recession, the government makes every effort to
prevent cuts, since their consequences are heavier."

Petrosyan also said that Armenia, like other countries, faces
challenges hobbling optimization of labor market.

Thing is that employment of many high-qualified specialists is
difficult because of insufficient jobs in Armenia.

Armenian Employment Agency says unemployment grew 0.7% by August 1,
2009, compared with the same date a year earlier, and reached 7%.

The highest unemployment rate was recorded in Shirak (12.5%), Lori
(12.0%) and Syunik 11.9%.

The agency says that it had 101,000 registered jobseekers in July 2009.

Of them, 86,500 were completely jobless.

According to the agency, 84,700 have the state of unemployed.

RA PRESIDENT MAKES CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS ON KNOWLEDGE DAY

PanARMENIAN.Net
01.09.2009 13:02 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ RA President Serzh Sargsyan made a congratulatory
address on Knowledge Day.

"The expression "Knowledge is power" acquired particular relevance
in our days. The more knowledgeable society is, the higher are its
chances to proliferate, preserve and develop its culture," presidential
address said.

Serzh Sargsyan addressed his special congratulations to first graders
on the start of their amazing discoveries in the world of books.

PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Karine Abalyan
Tel: (212) 686-0710; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

August 31, 2009

___________________________________

ARTASHA T WATER SUPPLY PROJECT BRINGS SAFE DRINKING WATER TO ARMENIA’S ARARAT
REGION THANKS TO EFFORTS OF USAID, FAR

On Wednesday, August 26, His Holiness Karekin II, the Supreme Patriarch and
Catholicos of All Armenians, conducted a water blessing ceremony in the
village of Qaghtsrashen, where church leaders and government officials
gathered to celebrate the completion of the Artashat Water Supply Project –
a water distribution system that will serve the town of Artashat and 27
surrounding villages in Armenia’s Ararat region.

Attending the ceremony were Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, President of the
Fund for Armenian Relief and Primate of the Diocese f the Armenian Church of
America (Eastern); Marie L. Yovanovitch, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of
Armenia; Hovik Abrahamian, Speaker of Armenia’s National Assembly; and other
clergy and dignitaries.

The Artashat Water Supply Project was financed by a $3.16 million grant from
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and executed by
the Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR) in cooperation with the government of
Armenia.

His Holiness Karekin II thanked USAID, the U.S. government, FAR, and the
faithful of the Eastern Diocese for helping realize this project. With
Archbishop Barsamian, Ambassador Yovanovitch, and Speaker Abrahamian, His
Holiness cut the ribbon symbolizing the official opening of the new water
system and proceeded to bless the water.

"For us, today’s ribbon-cutting is an example of the obstacles that can be
overcome, and the great goals that can be achieved, through collaborative
effort, intelligent use of resources and expertise, and an atmosphere of
mutual trust and openness," said Archbishop Barsamian.

Over the course of two years, crews cleaned and restored two existing
reservoirs and added a third 4,000-cubic-meter reservoir, bringing the
system’s total reservoir capacity to 8,000 cubic meters of water.

Work also involved the installation of nearly 50 kilometers of water mains
and lines, which will make it possible to distribute clean drinking water
from Garni sources to some 100,000 people living in the Ararat region.

The new water system, which will be managed by the Armenian Water Company,
will eliminate the need to pump water from local wells – a practice that was
both unsafe and inefficient.

"I am confident that the project will significantly improve the health and
well-being of people in this area," said Ambassador Yovanovitch, "and will
support the government of Armenia in its efforts to foster economic
development of the regions outside of Yerevan."

###

Photos attached.

Photo 1: His Holiness Karekin II, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of
All Armenians; Marie L. Yovanovitch, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of
Armenia; and Hovik Abrahamian, Speaker of Armenia’s National Assembly, cut
the ribbon symbolizing the official opening of the new water system in the
Ararat region.

Photo 2: His Holiness Karekin II, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of
All Armenians, conducts a water blessing ceremony in celebration of the
completion of the Artashat Water Supply Project.

AzerNews Weekly, Azerbaijan
Aug 25 2009

Opposition leader accuses Sarkisian of `surrendering Garabagh`
25-08-2009 23:22:37

Armenian opposition leader, former president Levon Ter-Petrosian
claims that incumbent President Serzh Sarkisian has agreed to return
to Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh, an Azerbaijani region under
Armenian occupation.
Ter-Petrosian told reporters that the only way “to rescue Garabagh“
is to achieve resignation of the incumbent president as soon as
possible.
According to him, the Armenian authorities have taken a step backward,
succumbing to Western pressure.
“They have relinquished the claims on genocide [the 1915 alleged
genocide in the Ottoman Empire] and they will now give up
Garabagh. After that, these authorities will be of no use even for the
West,“ Ter-Petrosian concluded.

THE CARTOONS THAT SHOOK THE PUBLISHER
by Daniel Ortner

Brandeis Hoot

Aug 28 2009

The infirmity of free speech became abundantly clear when Prof. Jytte
Klausen (POL) became the latest victim of the politically correct
assault on academic freedom and discourse. Klausen is a leading
expert on the growing Islamic population in Europe, and her latest
book, "The Cartoons That Shook the World," focuses on the Muhammad
cartoon controversy–arguing that rather than represent a truly deep
seeded cultural animosity, the explosion of violence that followed
the cartoons’ publication was incited by radicals looking to score
political victories.

Thus, one would expect that the book would allow the reader to view
images of the cartoons themselves as well as historic artistic
representations of the Prophet Muhammad central to the author’s
argument. However, Yale University Press, one of the supposedly most
reputable academic presses in the world, bowed to fear and potential
controversy when it exercised deplorable self-censorship. The press
stipulated that if the book were to be published, all images of the
Muslim prophet would have to be removed.

One of the arguments John Donatich, the director of Yale University
Press, used to justify his lack of integrity was shockingly inane. He
argued that because "The cartoons are freely available on the Internet
and can be accurately described in words, reprinting them could be
interpreted easily as gratuitous." Today, anything can be accessed
by the click of a track pad.

If all controversial images accessible online were to be removed
from books, we’d have few left. Biology textbooks would be relieved
of images of evolutionary descent because some creationists might
get angry and cause mischief. Health texts would not be able to
show visual representations of fertilization, because the "sexist"
nature of these images might offend some diehard feminists (as was
argued at length in an idiotic text I was assigned in a Women in the
Health Care System class). Should international relations texts not
feature images of the slaughter of Armenians by the Turks, in fear
of offending Turkish national identity?

Is this really the path that Yale University Press wants to see us go
down as a culture? Does the threat of violence justify the compromise
of standards, when so many "controversial" images are already in
print? The answer in this case is emphatically no! We cannot have a
marketplace of ideas if it is held ransom to every threat of violence

Even more absurd is the fact that Yale was responding to an imaginary
threat of controversy. There had been no reported threats and no actual
confrontation over the publication of this book. It has already been
several years since the publication of the cartoons. If the images
are as widely disseminated as Donatich suggests, then what harm could
their publication cause? Indeed, the images have been widely reprinted
and many scholars have lectured extensively on the topic. Several years
later, their publication and the violent reaction which followed should
be treated as a matter of historical fact deserving analysis. Moreover,
that a written analysis would be published without the images shows
cowardice based on an obsessive desire not to offend.

What’s even more frightening is that this wave of censorship is not
just being extended to new images such as the Danish cartoons from
2005. The book was not allowed to be published with historical images
of the Prophet that have been published without fanfare for hundreds
of years, including a 19th-century sketch by artist Gustave Doré
of Muhammad being tormented in Hell. The scene has been depicted
by Botticelli, Blake, Rodin and Dalí. Thus, the nebulous web of
censorship extends not just to new discourse, but to already existing
works.

Our obsession with not offending has led to schools banning the
teaching of "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." It is this same
culture of intolerant tolerance that led to a student at Purdue
University being punished for racial harassment for reading a book
celebrating the historic defeat of the KKK. When censors come and
attempt to enforce tolerance, they are not just going to try to limit
what can be said or written in the future, they will also want to turn
to the past and limit access to ideas that are viewed as unseemly in
the present. To have past images of the Prophet Muhammad censored,
when one of the very purposes of this book is to point out hypocrisy
by contrasting historical publication of the image of Muhammad with
current reactions, is mind blowing and proves Klausen’s point more
strongly.

The academic press and universities at large are supposed to be the
bastions of freedom. They are supposed to defend free speech even
when ideas are unpopular. Instead, when it comes to controversial
matters, specifically in regard to Islam, it seems that such principles
are conveniently ignored. In this culture, is it any surprise that
the editors of a conservative paper at Tufts were found guilty of
harassment for printing factually true statements about Islam, or that
at San Francisco State University, students were nearly disciplined,
were it not for the intervention of the Foundation For Individual
Rights In Education, for stepping on flags of Hamas and Hezbollah?

At its core, we have our notions of academic freedom in place
specifically to protect those writing about controversial
content. Prof. Klausen should be commended for tackling such an
important and controversial topic. Her writing should be treated as
sacrosanct precisely because individuals are willing to use violent
force to take away a privilege we have fought so hard for. Instead,
the very institutions that we expect to protect our rights have
cowardly betrayed them.