Yeghisabet Vorskanian – Page 57 – Armenian Directory & News

Garegin Chugaszyan: In 2018, the authoritarian system collapsed, but did not disappear

December 25, 2018December 25, 2018 Yeghisabet Vorskanian

Arminfo, Armeni
Dec 25 2018

Ani Mshetsyan

ArmInfo. In 2018, the authoritarian system collapsed, but did not disappear, on December 25 at a press conference, member of the "Sasna Tsrer" party Garegin Chugaszyan said.

He noted that the transition from authoritarianism to democracy cannot take place in one day; this is a very complicated process. "In order to eradicate this phenomenon in Armenia, it is necessary to destroy political and economic monopolies," Chugaszyan said. A member of the Sasna Tsrer party also noted that as a result of the early parliamentary elections, a multi-polar National Assembly was not formed, however, he found it positive that the RPA had lost its levers of government.

Chugaszyan also stated that in 2018 there were omissions, among which he pointed to the holding of elections under the unreformed Electoral Code, which caused difficulties for a number of parties to participate in electoral processes. Another omission, he considered that the authorities did not initiate constitutional reforms.

Referring to the appointment of the former head of the intelligence department of the Armenian General Staff Arshak Karapetyan to the position of advisor to the prime minister, Chugaszyan called this a state agency. He disagreed with the opinion of the. Prime Minister Pashinyan and Acting Defense Minister Tonoyan that in the days of the April war the Armenian side had intelligence. "In fact, during the April war, intelligence did not provide enough information, and the country's high command did not take the necessary steps to prevent an enemy attack. We expect the current authorities to assess all this, and it will become obvious that the events that followed the April war will have arrested Zhirayr Sefilyana and insurgency "Sasna Tsrer" were interrelated, "he concluded.

Fisk: The Ottomans were once humiliated by Yemeni rebels – today, the Houthis have done the same to Saudi Arabia

December 21, 2018December 21, 2018 Yeghisabet Vorskanian

The Independent, UK

Dec 20 2018

The Ottomans were once humiliated by Yemeni rebels – today, the Houthis have done the same to Saudi Arabia

If the Ottomans had to reform their army, what is to be done with the Saudi military? Mohammad bin Salman thinks he can reform his kingdom’s economy. But his soldiers may have to reform themselves

By Robert Fisk

I rarely have reason to thank Turkish ambassadors. They tend to hold a different view of the 1915 Armenian holocaust, in which a million and a half Armenian Christians were deliberately murdered in a planned genocide by the Ottoman Turkish regime. “Hardship and suffering”, they agree, was the Armenians’ lot. But genocide? Never.

Well, that’s not the view of genocide scholars – including Israeli historians – nor of that bravest of Turkish academics, Taner Akcam, who has prowled thorough the Ottoman archives to find the proof. The Armenians did suffer, alas, a genocide.

Certainly my gratitude to His Excellency Umit Yalcin, Turkish ambassador to the Court of St James, is not for his letter to me, in which he describes the Armenian genocide as a “one-sided narrative”. But he did enclose a small book, published five years ago by Edward Erickson, whose contents obfuscate the details of the mass slaughter of the Armenians, even daring to suggest that the Ottoman “strategy of population relocation” should be seen in the contemporary setting of Britain’s policy of “relocating” civilians in the Boer War (in “concentration camps”) in South Africa, and by the Americans in the Philippines.

Erickson was an American army colonel and is now professor of military history at the Marine Corps University in Virginia. He insists that there was a widespread Armenian insurgency at the time of the killings. A fine Kurdish scholar has described his book Ottomans and Armenians: A Study in Counterinsurgency as “rich” in sources, but insists that these sources are distorted. Akcam himself says that even if Erickson’s contention that there was a real Armenian insurgency in Turkey (which Akcam disputes) was true, this would only explain why the genocide happened – not why it never occurred!

But what fascinated me in Erickson’s book was a chapter which probably held little interest for Ambassador Yalcin – but which should be both grim and prescient for Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman of Saudi Arabia. This chapter is contained in a mere eight pages. But it describes a continuous, costly, bloody and hopeless war between the Zaidi tribes of Yemen and the Turkish Ottoman forces loyal to Constantinople in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Houthis – of present-day Yemeni military history – belong to the Shia Zaidi, a branch of the Shia imamiyah of Iran. And the Zaidis, in their battle against the Ottomans, acquired new and sophisticated weapons. The Ottomans attacked a port called Hodeida. There was famine across the land. Does this sound rather familiar?

And bad news for the Saudis who – as near as history would permit these days – are now playing the role of the Ottomans slightly over a century ago, trying to suppress a local Shia rebellion in their sphere of interest with the most expensive of weapons and the most costly of training that money can buy; and with the hubris of an Ottoman power which thought it wielded the strongest military force in the Middle East. By now, I think that Ambassador Yalcin probably realises just why I really am grateful to him for sending me this book. Even more so when I add that the Ottomans were forced to end their wars in Yemen with what now faces the region’s leading Saudi warlord: a negotiated settlement.

Historical precedents are never exact. Unlike the Saudis, the Ottomans had no major power to support them in their Yemeni adventures. And of course, they had no air force. The Zaidis were closer to their Sunni co-religionists than the Saudis might accept today. Over centuries, they prayed in the same mosques. But the story of a large and cumbersome Ottoman army floundering around the deserts and mountains of Yemen, pursuing tough and resilient rebels while other major wars loom far to the north has a frightening contemporary relevance.

The ruthless Ottoman military governor Feyzi Pasha suppressed a Yemeni rebellion by Imam an-Mansur in the late 19th century with modern counterinsurgency tactics – with small columns of men and what Erickson calls “devastating European-style firepower superiority”. But the Turks ran out of money to improve the lives of Yemenis. By the early 20th century, Ottoman control was vested in a small 18,000-strong army headquartered in Sanaa. Another rural rebellion began in 1904 under the imam’s son, and within a month the Zaidis had blocked the road between Sanaa and the port of Hodeida. Telegraph wires were cut, caravans suspended and Sanaa put under siege. The rebels themselves had acquired new magazine-fed military rifles. The Ottomans brought in more troops from around the empire – from Macedonia, Albania and, interestingly, Arab units from Syria.

Ottoman reinforcements under Riza Pasha were repeatedly ambushed by the rebels. Turkish morale collapsed. Some of the Arabs in the Ottoman army turned out to be sympathetic to the Zaidi rebels – could they, perhaps, have been Shiite or Alawite Syrians? We do not know.

Thousands more troops arrived to crush the rebellion, but Sanaa was already lost. Then the Ottomans needed to withdraw many of their troops for other campaigns within the empire. As Erickson writes, “the campaign turned into a quagmire for the Ottoman Empire and the Syrian units of the expeditionary force began to mutiny”. Out of 110,000 Ottoman soldiers, casualties stood at more than 25,000 by 1905.

Turkey’s Yemen war turned into a history of ceasefires and negotiated truces while the Turkish Ottoman army had to be reformed in order to survive, with a new officer corps and an end to patronage – not dissimilar to princely patronage in the present-day Saudi military. But the Ottomans were unable to crush yet another insurrection which only ended in 1912. And within two years, the First World War distracted – and then ultimately destroyed – the entire Ottoman Empire.

Thus while the Ottomans remained an imperial power at the end of their Yemen war, their prestige and morale had drained away in this outpost of empire. They squandered their resources in annihilating the Armenians in 1915 and finally collapsed before Allenby’s advancing armies in 1918. No, history is not exact. Once the British-supported Arab Revolt began in 1916, for example, Yemen was effectively cut off from its notional Ottoman masters. The future “empire” in the Arabian Peninsula would be controlled first by the Hashemites and then by the House of Saud.

Which brings us back to Saudi Arabia and its own self-destructive, useless war with the rebels of Yemen, the descendants of those same Zaidi tribes which so humiliated the Ottomans. It was Mohammad bin Salman who launched this conflict – which is supposed to protect the Sunni world from the Shiites of Iran and its allies – and he will be held responsible for its disasters. He has allowed the United Arab Emirates to do the fighting on the ground. What we do not know – and what the west does not want to know and does not ask about – is the effect of this disastrous campaign on the armies of Saudi Arabia and the Emirates.

Justin Trudeau looking to cancel arms deal with Saudi Arabia

While the Saudi crown prince now fritters away his time trying to salvage his own personal prestige from the disgrace of the Khashoggi murder, what are his generals thinking about their military prestige? The Saudi National Guard, the king’s private army, and the Saudi armed forces – all, of course, loyal, trustworthy, patriotic chaps, so we are told – can only be deeply upset at the course of the Yemeni war. If the Ottomans could be humiliated by Yemeni rebels, have not the Houthis shamed and humbled the armed forces of Saudi Arabia?

What do the warriors in the Royal Saudi Air Force think – after firing their bombs and missiles at the puny forces of “Houthistan” – when their enemies are now negotiating a peace in a Swedish town called Rimbo? If the Ottomans had to reform their army, what is to be done with the Saudi military? The crown prince thinks he can reform his kingdom’s economy. But his soldiers may have to reform themselves. An end to patronage, perhaps? A new officer corps? Now there’s an Ottoman precedent to bear in mind. Could the crown prince survive that?

I don’t trust Erickson’s analysis of the Armenian genocide. Nor that of the Turkish ambassador to the Court of Saint James. But I thank them both for the ideas that a small book on the Ottomans contains about Yemen. Maybe it should be essential reading in Saudi military colleges. In the King Abdul Aziz Military Academy and the King Khalid Military Academy, perhaps.

More to the point, this book might be made available to students in the library of the King Faisal Air Academy, where the country’s young fighter pilots and weapons directors are trained. They, after all, are the “tungsten tip” of the crown prince’s war in Yemen. Don’t they have any thoughts of their own?

Անթիլիաս – Ն.Ս.Օ.Տ.Տ. ԱՐԱՄ Ա. ԿԱԹՈՂԻԿՈՍ ԸՆԴՈՒՆԵՑ ԼԻԲԱՆԱՆԻ ՄՕՏ ՀԱՅԱՍՏԱՆԻ ՆՈՐԱՆՇԱՆԱԿ ԴԵՍՊԱՆԸ

December 21, 2018December 21, 2018 Yeghisabet Vorskanian

Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
PO Box : 70 317 Antelias – LEBANON
Tel: (+961-4) 410 001 / 3
Fax: (+961-4) 419724
E-mail: [email protected]

Ն.Ս.Օ.Տ.Տ. ԱՐԱՄ Ա. ԿԱԹՈՂԻԿՈՍ ԸՆԴՈՒՆԵՑ ԼԻԲԱՆԱՆԻ ՄՕՏ ՀԱՅԱՍՏԱՆԻ ՆՈՐԱՆՇԱՆԱԿ ԴԵՍՊԱՆԸ

Երեքշաբթի, 20 Դեկտեմբեր 2018-ին, Ն.Ս.Օ.Տ.Տ. Արամ Ա. Կաթողիկոս Անթիլիասի Մայրավանքի իր գրասենեակին մէջ ընդունեց
Լիբանանի մօտ Հայաստանի Հանրապետութեան նորանշանակ դեսպան Պրն. Վահագն Աթաբեկեանը։

Շուրջ ժամ մը տեւած հանդիպումի ընթացքին
ընդհանուր ծանօթացումէ ետք, Վեհափառ Հայրապետը կարգ մը հիմնական տեղեկութիւններ
փոխանցեց պարոն դեսպանին՝ յատկապէս Լիբանանի ներքին քաղաքական կեանքին, Մեծի Տանն Կիլիկիոյ
Կաթողիկոսութեան գործունէութեան, ինչպէս նաեւ Հայաստան-Սփիւռք գործակցութեան մասին՝
մասնաւորաբար ներկայ իրավիճակներու լոյսին տակ։ Նորին
Սրբութիւնը վստահեցուց, որ Կաթողիկոսութիւնը
պիտի շարունակէ իր բոլոր գաղութներէն ներս զօրակցիլ դեսպանատան աշխատանքներուն։

Պարոն դեսպան իր կարգին տեղեակ պահեց Վեհափառ Հայրապետը դեսպանատան յառաջիկայ գործունէութեան մասին եւ
շնորհակալութիւն յայտնեց իրեն փոխանցուած տեղեկութիւններուն եւ իր անձին նկատմամբ
ցուցաբերուած վստահութեան եւ զօրակցութեան համար։

—

Communication & Information Department

Nikol Pashinyan confirms that he is satisfied with conversation with Alexander Lukashenko …

December 19, 2018December 19, 2018 Yeghisabet Vorskanian

Arminfo, Armenia

Dec 19 2018

ArmInfo. "President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko voiced only what he said, but did not say what I said to him in response", Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan told reporters on December 19th.

According to Pashinyan, immediately upon arrival from St. Petersburg, where the meeting of the Supreme Economic Council of the EAEU was held, he told reporters that he had discussed all the issues with Alexander Lukashenko and was generally satisfied with the answers received. At the same time, as Pashinyan recalled, he did not want to reveal the details of the conversation, noting that at the moment it's incorrect to make public the content of the closed meeting. "Even today I can confirm that I am satisfied with this conversation and I don't consider it necessary to continue the discussion of this conversation. Perhaps there are people who are not satisfied with the conversation, but this is a different question," the Acting head of government stated.

Referring to the statement of the Belarusian leader that Pashinyan did not raise the issue of arms sales to Azerbaijan before the head of Russia Vladimir Putin, the Armenian Acting Prime Minister recalled that after this, Armenian ActingbPrime Minister's spokesman Arman Yeghoyan denied the statement, stressing that Pashinyan constantly raised the issue during meetings with Putin sales of Russian weapons to Azerbaijan. As Nikol Pashinyan said, all the questions raised by Lukashenka were given exhaustive and very specific answers. "To be honest, I and the others present had the impression that Lukashenko was also satisfied with the conversation. What happened next is unknown to me," he said.

Earlier, it was reported that on the sidelines of the informal CIS summit in St. Petersburg, Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan demanded an explanation from the head of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko that he had discussed the details of the closed meeting of the CSTO leaders with the Azerbaijani Ambassador that the AR is not a member of the organization. "Everything that he promised to do was done," - told reporters. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on December 7 in the city of Gyumri, speaking about the correspondence controversy with the leader of Belarus over the appointment of a new CSTO Secretary General. On Wednesday, December 5, Nikol Pashinyan said that on December 6 in St. Petersburg, he would demand clarification from Alexander Lukashenko.

To note, after the recall of the CSTO Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov, the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev spoke in favor of early termination of the powers of Armenia as the chairperson of the organization of the country and the transfer of the post of Secretary General on the rotation order to Belarus. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko subsequently discussed the situation with the ambassador of Azerbaijan, telling him the details of the closed meeting and supporting the position of Nazarbayev. In response to this, RA Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that he would demand explanations from the Belarusian and Kazakh presidents.Minsk through the press secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Anatoly Glaza reproached Pashinyan for violating the norms of the international protocol. Yerevan responded to this statement at the level of a deputy from the ruling party, Alain Simonyan, who stressed that it was not Minsk to teach Pashinyan the etiquette and rules of international politics, since Minsk itself constantly violates them.

Meanwhile, after the St. Petersburg meeting, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, in an interview with journalists, in particular, stated that Minsk is the fifth arms supplier to Azerbaijan. "There are countries that sell weapons of Baku on a large scale, for example, Israel, Russia, Turkey. I told Nikol Pashinyan why he takes offense at Minsk because of the sale of weapons to Azerbaijan. Russia sells them on a much larger scale, why he scored in the mouth, why does not he raise this question before Putin, why does he not criticize him, or is he afraid? " – Lukashenka said, adding that during the conversation with Pashinyan, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev was also present there.

Armenian university courts Lebanese students

December 3, 2018December 3, 2018 Yeghisabet Vorskanian

The Daily Star (Lebanon)

November 24, 2018 Saturday

Armenian university courts Lebanese students

by Finbar Anderson

Dr. Armen Der Kiureghian might not have returned to his ancestral home of Armenia had it not been for the 1988 earthquake that devastated the north of the country.

BEIRUT: Dr. Armen Der Kiureghian might not have returned to his ancestral home of Armenia had it not been for the 1988 earthquake that devastated the north of the country. At the time, the engineer, with a specialty in earthquakes, was a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and went to Yerevan for work purposes.

However, his visit to Yerevan set in motion a chain of events that would eventually lead to the establishment of the American University of Armenia.

Since opening in 1991, the university has grown to over 2,000 students. Now, one of the university's main goals is to diversify its student body and increase the number of international students, Kiureghian told The Daily Star on a recent trip to Beirut to reach out to Lebanese youth and promote the university.

"We want to diversify both the student population as well as the faculty, because it enriches the educational experience for everyone," says Kiureghian, one of the university's founders and its sitting president.

In the late 20th century, many of Armenia's neighbors, including Lebanon, provided shelter to refugees of the Armenian genocide, something the university has not forgotten: one of its scholarships, the Aurora Gratitude scholarship, is awarded annually to a number of students from those countries.

While those of Armenian heritage are eligible to apply for a special passport that entitles them to pay the reduced fees of local nationals, any Lebanese citizen is eligible to apply for the scholarships.

Indeed, Kiureghian says, the university actively encourages people who are not ethnic Armenians to apply in order to encourage diversity among the student body.

A small number of Lebanese students have already made the trip to Yerevan: In the past academic year, 19 Lebanese citizens chose to shun Mount Lebanon to study in the shadow of Mount Ararat, the mountain close to the Armenian capital that many Christians believe was the final resting place of Noah's Ark.

Compared to its namesakes, such as the American University of Beirut, the American University of Armenia is not old, but it is no younger than the republic of Armenia.

Kiureghian and his colleagues first conceived the idea of the university when Armenia was part of the former Soviet Union, a fairly radical notion for a university with strong ties to the University of California.

The principal university building, indeed, was once the local congress hall of the Communist Party, where, in the 1,300-seat auditorium, such dignitaries as former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev reportedly spoke.

However, Kiureghian says, "the day we opened classroom doors, the Parliament in Armenia declared independence, so we are to the day as old as the republic."

Despite its youth, Kiureghian believes his university has a lot to offer Lebanese students.

One of the main practical advantages, he notes, is that it is considerably cheaper than its private counterparts in Beirut, with tuition fees at approximately $8,000 per year.

He nevertheless advocates traveling abroad to study as having merit in its own right: "Experiencing a different culture [and] a different country is always an enriching experience," he says.

Kiureghian, who grew up in Iran but now spends his time between Yerevan and San Francisco, says the cultural scene in the former has much more to offer than his U.S. home.

The Armenian capital, he says, is "culturally extremely rich from the Soviet tradition. Opera, ballet, jazz music, folk music, arts, theater: It's so abundant."

Armenpress: Christian-Democratic Party says campaigning will be equally fair for everyone

December 3, 2018December 3, 2018 Yeghisabet Vorskanian

Christian-Democratic Party says campaigning will be equally fair for everyone

12:11, 26 November, 2018

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 26, ARMENPRESS. The Christian-Democratic Party will utilize vehicles as mobile campaigning offices instead of traditional offices, chairman of the party Levon Shirinyan told reporters today.

“In our perception the campaigning will be fair and effective. We don’t have traditional campaigning headquarters, we have vehicles on locations. We have put the emphasis on presenting ourselves through news media, and presenting our program,” he said.

According to Shirinyan, the main specificity of their party is that the basis of its ideology are the church and philosophy of confession. The party also rejects liberalism in absolute terms.

Speaking about the party’s plan, Shirinyan said they must emphasis assistance for the socially vulnerable. “However, the resources of the budget are insufficient. If Armenia doesn’t become an industrial country then the solutions of many issues must be forgotten. If we don’t have an industrial Armenia, we won’t have [repatriation] also”, he said.

Shirinyan said they endorse Nikol Pashinyan as the leader of the revolution. “He remains such for us. We expect him to be pro-centrism. But the government doesn’t have a strategic planning, a strategy. We will endorse them as long as they’ll do things to be endorsed, and we will criticize if something deserving criticism happens,” he said.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan

ARF Kicks Off Parliamentary Election Campaign

November 29, 2018November 29, 2018 Yeghisabet Vorskanian

Armenia

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A scene from the ARF campaign kick off rally in Yerevan on Monday (Photo by Photol;ure)

YEREVAN (ARF Press Office)—The Armenian Revolutionary Federation officially kicked off its parliamentary election campaign on at a rally near the statue of Aram Manukian, the founder of the Republic of Armenia in 1918, with the slogan “Faithful to our land and to Armenians”.

Gegham Manukyan, a candidate of the ARF proportional and district list, mentioned in his speech that the campaign kickoff began at Aram Manukian’s statue to always remain accountable to Aram Manukian, who founded this republic 100 years ago.

“Today, the ARF uses the same ideological principles and continues to say, that the ARF is faithful to the land and to Armenians: that land which is a portion of land that in 1915 Aram Manukian defended in Van (Western Armenia), that land, whose other portion, Artsakh, was protected by the fedayees, and another portion of land, that is called Javakhk. The land that we dream about must be protected” said Manukyan.

The speakers at the ARF rally included the chairman of the ARF Supreme Council of Armenia Arsen Hambartsumyan

He also mentioned that these elections are different due to a very important circumstance, which is the hope that the elections will pass in a correct manner, without corruption of money. But, Manukyan also noted in his speech that these elections have one critical issue: Will they pass based on discussions of programmes and ideologies?

“We are calling on all political parties and alliances formed for these elections, starting from Prime Minister Pashinyan to the newly formed political parties, ‘participate in the election campaigns by presenting your programs and ideologies. Do not only use the people’s movement as a flag in order to move forward.’ That will make us approach a dangerous line, which is called a red line,” said Manukyan.

“Today is the first day of the campaign, ‘My Step’ alliance member Sasun Mikayelyan gave himself permission to categorize the April-May people’s movement more important than the movement that started a few decades ago, a powerful national liberation struggle, that we call Artsakh. Sasun Mikayelyan either did not understand what he was saying or was trying to belittle the Artsakh heroic battles. Certainly, he can justify by saying he has participated in the Artsakh liberation war, but many have taken part in the volunteer activities starting with the former president of the Yerkrapah Volunteer Union to the volunteers. But the important thing is to keep that spirit. Let’s hope that Sasun Mikayelyan did not understand what he said. Because it’s time to move forward with principles and ideologies,” concluded Manukyan.

Armenuhi Kyureghyan, an ARF candidate for parliament

During the event, Armen Rustamyan, ARF-Dashnaktsutyan Bureau member and its political representative, who leads the ARF-D proportional list, addressed the rally. Rustamyan noted: “Indeed, this place is compelling. With this, the ARF campaign that is starting by Aram Manukian’s statue obliges us all to speak with the people sincerely and honestly, to present our thoughts, our assessments of the situation, as well as our actions.”

Rustamyan went on to say that the ARF Dashnaktsutyun is participating in these important elections because Armenia, which is in a critical transition period, faces serious dangers and challenges. The main danger is not to become a new, well-forgotten old repetition or a new packaging of the past. The danger is real, because for all types of political parties, and the current regime is not an exception, the temptation is always great – to come to power and to gain their own power, replacing old political and economic monopolies with new ones. There are already signs of this. Although it is announced that all promises have been completed, the super-prime ministerial system of government has not been eliminated yet. Moreover, there is no guarantee that it will not be replaced by a super-presidential system.” The same faces remain, but it is announced that there are no longer any oligarchs, maybe due to the reason that they have already become their own, remarked Rustamyan. In the economic sphere, the same subjects have maintained their dominant positions, but it turns out that there are no monopolies anymore, perhaps because they demonstrate the willingness to serve the new government officials, continued Rustamyan.

“Finally, we have seen from the ’90s, how it is possible to manipulate over 80 percent of the people by exploiting the people’s confidence to serve their own power, deviate from national goals and dissipate the national awakening and standing in danger of losing Artsakh’s victory. We have no right to take our people through the same trials and tribulations. That is why the ARF decided to participate in these elections. The main challenges are to go from a conscious rejection to success.

“That, which has existed as a fact until today, is, in essence, an actual change of the regime, but not a full-fledged revolution. The revolution is still ahead. The revolution does not begin with the coming of power, it begins after the coming of power. The revolution will be complete when positive shifts will be felt in everybody’s everyday life, when no poor Armenian will remain in our country, when people will be appointed using a system of relative, -acquaintance-friend will be appointed not from the scope of the MDP, but will be appointed for their merit, capabilities, and abilities to do work. When will we have a truly just Armenia?

“During the past elections, it was not by chance that the ARF participated using the slogan ‘New beginning, just Armenia’. The new beginning was put based on the new parliamentary system, and the first attempt was successful. Immediately after transitioning to the parliamentary system, the bloodless change of the prime minister took place, which was truly unprecedented in our newly independent history. It remains to us that this new beginning brings us to a just Armenia. It is due to that, the ARF decided to participate in these elections. The ARF will participate in the elections in accordance with its national, socialist, democratic and revolutionary principles and mission. We remain faithful to our enduring and endless values. Faithful to the land and to Armenians,” concluded Rustamyan.

ARF Supreme Council of Armenia representative Arsen Hambartsumyan noted during his speech that a principle of the campaign is that the ARF will win. And the slogan is unique to every ARF members essence.

“Our goal is to build a fair and powerful country for a free citizen. Build a free, independent and united Armenia. The ARF stands for the preservation of national values, without the development of concessions and social justice, “he emphasized, noting that the upcoming elections will predetermine the future of the country’s development.

“The forces participating in the elections are old and new, they are in your view. Compare and you will see that Dashnaktsutyun differs from everyone because we are not a party of one person, we have ideological and programmatic principles. We have never been interchangeable and we will never be because we have not said one thing and then another. We are an independent political force, “said Hambardzumyan, hinting that internal and external forces have tried to influence the Dashnaktsutyun, but that did not succeed and will not succeed because Dashnaktsutyun has one master, the Armenian people.

According to him, the stronger the ARF will be correlated with how fair and peaceful we are as a country. “We must develop without compromising, this should become reality,” said the ARF Supreme Council representative.

Former Minister of Agriculture and ARF parliamentarian candidate Artur Khachatryan made a speech. He noted that the ARF is a unique political party and essentially differs from other political structures, not only because it has branches in Armenia, Artsakh, and in the diaspora, which has been with the people for 128 years, but also because the socio-economic picture of the party, The ideology is leftist – socialist.

“We believe that the state plays an essential role in ensuring the country’s economic development. We do not believe that the market’s own hand can handle the market, to create a prosperous, just society, a society where everyone will get his merits and investment. We find that a state cannot sit with its arms foled, that a state has a very important role to develop the country.” stated Khachatryan.

He also mentioned that the development of the country for the ARF is as equally important as social justice. According to Khachatryan, social justice is meant to distribute the social value created by the members of the society.

According to him, the people do not complain only of poverty, hard social conditions, but the main complaint of the people is injustice. Khachatryan said “Tens of thousands of people are working day by day, but they get coins, and oligarchs, who are called the owners, pocket a significant part of their national value. And this principled position stems from our socio-economic policy. We demand progressive development, inclusive growth, social justice and sustainable development. We attach a crucial role to the state in the rapid economic growth. the state must take the role of the locomotive of economic development from the passive regulation, actively eradicate market failures, crises”.

Khachatryan continued stating, the state should be able to create jobs in state-private companies in the format of state-private partnership. If a private company is not being enticed to open jobs, the state must fill that gap in those areas where the private is afraid to enter.

The ARF member noted that the value created by the state should be distributed equally: currently people work, but they do not get their share of the income. “The fruits of economic growth are not fairly distributed. We have pensioners, unemployed people who receive salaries, people are have been working their entire lives, but their pensions do not even guarantee the basic necessities. Is that what we want? Of course not. We are talking about a solid society and we must guarantee that solidarity with our economic policies. Today’s society should also create the basis for the well-being of future generations, we must conduct the right health and educational policy. Today’s generation is also responsible for future generations, “said Khachatryan.

Armenuhi Kyureghyan, an ARF candidate for parliamentarian, touched upon the social programs of the ARF. According to her, the ARF considers one of the priorities of the social state as a requirement of a dignified life of every citizen. But,Gyureghyan noted that what is the current government offering? – a government who instead of creating jobs is threatening people with a loss of job if they do not vote.

“We have a proposal to increase the role of the state in the workplace, instead of unemployment, to create jobs. The ARF considers that the social state is obliged to have a job creation program for each citizen. Programs that will provide young people with jobs after the education system will include programs aimed at providing disabled people with jobs in quota, programs aimed at addressing key demographic issues, implementing measures to promote the birth of the next child, promoting immigration and preventing emigration, enhancing pensions and benefits “said Kyureghyan.

According to Kyureghyan, the people’s vote and confidence are needed to implement those programs.

Kyureghyan mentioned that they have always talked about the necessity of changing the governance system and despite having few mandates [parliamentarians] in the National Assembly and a few employees in the government were able to achieve that systematic change.

“By receiving more votes, we will definitely be able to implement social justice in the country, to contribute to the formation of a social state. Trust the ARF, the party that has never said something and done something else, and a party who is always consistent in moving ahead with its plans. Look at our lists and compare with other lists. We have a party that has included all the members of the government on its list as there are no other people. Look at their list and you will see that the same incapable team, who can not do anything today and instead of going out of the campaign through its programs, has come out of a black and white struggle since there is nothing to propose, “Kyureghyan said, adding that ARF offers specific programs and concrete solutions and a powerful team that will achieve all that.

Artsvik Minasyan, a candidate of the ARF parliamentarian proportional list, told those gathered at the campaign launched at Aram Manukyan’s statue, why they should elect Dashnaktsutyun. First, the ARF has a clear plan from the socio-economic to the nation, which is based on a clear-value system.

“Show at least 2 parties that meet this criterion. You will not find it, do not waste your time. Parties are created around the person and do not see the future of Armenia’s development. Secondly, ARF is not a party gathered around a person, but it is about the idea and is responsible. And thirdly, the ARF is a party that has come to existence of the people’s nation, born from the suffering of the nation. It is a people’s party, a party that is fighting against perversion and devastation of the traditional Armenian family. And finally, ARF is every Armenian. Confidence in the ARF is a trust in our powerful country, a dignified Armenian, “Minasyan said.

He emphasized that they would say openly what they did to prevent bloodshed in the country from the 90s to the last days. “We will openly state what the ARF Dashnaktsutyun has done to prevents Armenians from fighting Armenians on March 1st,” ARF member said.

At the end of the rally, the ARF youth organization (ARF- Youth Organization of Armenia) members performed a flash mob with torches depicting the initials of ARF in Armenian.

Travel: Efforts yield high return

November 27, 2018November 27, 2018 Yeghisabet Vorskanian

Otago Daily Times, New Zealand

Nov 27 2018

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The four Aragats peaks, surrounding the massive caldera of an extinct volcano, form the highest point in Armenia and remain snow covered through at least June.PHOTOS: TNS

Ralph Vartabedian explores Armenia, his father’s homeland, peak by peak. It’s not world-class yet, but the views…

My son Marc and I had tromped through shin-deep snow for several hours, and by the time we reached the blustery top of the peak, we couldn't see more than 10m because of a whiteout.

Somewhere in front of us was a deep crater and the surrounding peaks of a volcanic rim we had hoped to reach. But as we stood on one of the highest peaks in the Armenian Caucasus Mountains, we were satisfied we'd made it this far.

For much of the last century, nobody would have considered the former Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic a hiking destination.

But a few decades of independence and a strengthening democratic government have given the little nation a growing reputation as an interesting, safe hiking place. We met hikers from France, England, Canada, Belgium and Australia in just a few days on the trails.

The Geghard Monastery, which translates as ‘‘Monastery of the Spear’’, originates from the spear that wounded Jesus. .

Smithsonian magazine earlier this year identified Armenia as one of the next world-class hiking destinations.

The nation's beautifully wooded Dilijan National Park resembles Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The plateaus of volcanic Mount Aragats look something like the Sierra Nevada's high country, with barren igneous rock, gravelly slopes and snow-covered peaks.

Lake Sevan is twice as large as Lake Tahoe and 300m higher in elevation. Although its waters don't have the clarity that makes Tahoe so spectacular, you won't find a traffic jam around the lake's perimeter or dense neighbourhoods of mansions.

What the country lacks in affluence is offset by the warmth of the people, whose identity is anchored to its long history. Yerevan, the capital, was founded in 782BC, decades before Rome. Between hikes, you can visit ancient temples and some of the oldest Christian churches in the world.

But anyone who frequents California's well-travelled mountains would find a few surprises and challenges in hiking or climbing in Armenia.

Wild poppies and other flowers bloom in the Armenian spring.

You often won't find marked trail heads. The weather will be unpredictable. The flora will be foreign. You might end up driving your rental car across a boulder-strewn mountain river to get near a trail. If you find a topographic map, it will probably be written in Armenian – which doesn't use the Latin alphabet.

Just how surprising travelling around Armenia could get dawned on me when Marc and I rented a car in early June in Yerevan, and the rental agent warned me that my California driver's licence wasn't strictly legal.

If I was stopped by police, he said, just offer money. How much, I asked? About $US10 ($NZ14.70) would be more than enough. Now that's the kind of advice you don't get at a US rental counter. Fortunately, it wasn't needed.

Just to get to Armenia requires a long flight that takes you to a place that's 11 hours ahead of California. That's important in planning strenuous hiking, because it takes awhile to get over that day-to-night jet lag.

But the country rewards those who make the effort. It will be a liberating experience from the crowded trails, packed parking lots and scarce back-country permits in California. In fact, you won't need any permits in Armenia.

Our campsite near Kari Lake at about 3000 metres’ elevation.

I had long searched for a good reason to visit Armenia. As I grew up in Detroit, my father often reminisced about growing up in the Caucasus Mountains in the early 20th century. Marc had just completed graduate school and had a one-week window to join me in Armenia. He spent a week surfing in Indonesia and flew west, and I flew east.

After a day of exploring Yerevan on foot, we planned for three or four days of hiking. On the way to Dilijan National Park, we stopped at the Sevanavank Monastery, two 1100-year-old stone churches overlooking Sevan Lake.

We went on two hikes in Dilijan National Park, one to pleasant back-country Gosh Lake, along the Transcaucasian Trail, or TCT. At the lake, we met a Canadian hiker who seemed lost. He joined us, and we gave him a ride back to the city of Dilijan.

A few days later, I met park superintendent Armen Abrahamyan at the park's headquarters just outside Dilijan. The park now has 200km of trails, about half of them on the TCT, he said. Some of them are Jeep roads, although we didn't encounter vehicle traffic on our hikes. The TCT will eventually extend from Georgia through Armenia, covering 3000km and connecting existing and future national parks.

The second hike took us to the ruins of the 11th century Jukhtak Monastery, deep in a forest. I imagined how people, isolated from the rest of the world, would hike to that mountaintop 1000 years ago. It seemed such a far cry from driving to a church parking lot these days.

The Garni Temple was built in about AD100, before Armenia became the world’s first country to adopt Christianity.

The main objective of our trip was Mount Aragats, the highest peak in the country, about an hour's drive east of Yerevan.

I found a crude digital topographic map of Aragats on the internet that a graphic artist at the Los Angeles Times was kind enough to print. I wasn't sure there was an actual trail, and we didn't have time to find our own route.

I quickly realised we would need a guide. A hiking brochure, produced under the sponsorship of the US Agency for International Development, advised guides for many of the much less ambitious hikes in Armenia. The only problem was finding a good one.

I talked with Armenian travel agents, Armenian journalists and Armenian aid officials. I found hiking guides online and tried to email them. I talked with a couple of guys with the Armenian Hiking Society whom I'd met on the Sam Merrill Trail above Altadena, California.

It wasn't until I got to Armenia that things fell into place and I met Hovik Mizrakyan, a jewellery designer and strong hiker affiliated with FindArmenia.com. Marc and I camped the night before at subalpine Kari Lake. There were no fire pits, picnic tables, fee stations or infrastructure you'd expect when car camping.

We met a group of Belgians camping nearby, led by Nver Avetisyan, a friendly mountain guide. He drove the only Dodge Caravan we saw on our trip. He invited us into his dining tent for some tea and coffee. We brought a bag of ripe cherries we had bought earlier and talked about the future of democracy in Armenia.

Our last dinner in Yerevan included a trout from Lake Sevan, a tomato salad and stuffed grape leaves.

If you go

WHERE TO STAY
Ibis Yerevan Centre Hotel, 5/1 Northern Ave, Yerevan. lat.ms/ibisyerevan hotel. Discount European hotel; doubles from $US65 ($NZ96). Avan Dzoraget Hotel, 1st St, Building 127, Village Dzoraget.tufenkianheritage.com/en/accommodation/avan-dzoraget-hotel. Awesome hotel north of Yerevan. Part of the Tufenkian Heritage Hotels chain. Doubles from $US151.

WHERE TO EAT
Lahmajun Gaidz, 5 Nalbandyan, Yerevan. lat.ms/lahmajungaidz. Terrific lunch fare (we tried lamb and beef lahmajun, a kind of Armenian pizza) just off Republic Square. Lunch for two was less than $US10. For the hikes, we had brought energy bars with us. When we camped, we bought some shawarma wraps (meat wrapped in pita).

GEAR
If you are planning to day hike, you’ll obviously want the standard equipment: day pack, lightweight boots, good rain gear, water bottles, sunscreen and lots of moisture-wicking clothes. If you are backpacking, keep in mind that camping-stove gas will be difficult to find and that you can’t take it with you on the plane.

TO LEARN MORE
Armenian Tourism Development Foundation, Armenia.travel/en

168: Domestic market reacts positively to changes, says economist

November 24, 2018November 24, 2018 Yeghisabet Vorskanian

| 13:24 | November 23 2018

Turkey’s purchase of Russian S-400s ‘done deal’, Turkish FM says

November 21, 2018November 21, 2018 Yeghisabet Vorskanian

Panorama, Armenia

Nov 21 2018

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu considers the purchase of Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems to be a done deal that cannot be canceled, TASS reports, citing Reuters.

"The current deal [purchase of Russian S-400 Triumf missile systems] is a done deal, I cannot cancel it," Reuters quoted Cavusoglu as saying after a meeting with his US counterpart Mike Pompeo.

The minister added that Ankara needs further defense procurement from its allies. "But I need more … and I prefer to buy from my allies," he said.

On November 14, the Anadolu news agency reported with reference to a high-ranked source in Washington that the US suggests that the Russian S-400 missile systems purchased by Turkey pose a threat to the F-35 fighter jets, which is why the United States could impose sanctions against Ankara. According to the source, Russian systems are problematic from the viewpoint of integration into the NATO systems.