Category: 2018

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

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?
 
 

Armenian deputy foreign minister to be appointed as ambassador to Vatican – newspaper

Arpi Talalian
ARKA, Armenia
Dec 20 2018

YEREVAN, December 20. /ARKA/. Karen Nazaryan, Armenian deputy foreign minister, will be appointed as ambassador to Vatican, Zhamanak reported Thursday referring to a source close to the foreign ministry.  

Until recently, Armenia was represented in Vatican by Mikael Minasyan, son-in-law of Serzh Sargsyan, a former Armenian president. 

According to the source, Ashot Hovakimyan, another deputy foreign minister, will be appointed as ambassador as well. -0—

Médecins Sans Frontières: Children in difficult situations: 30 years of MSF in Armenia , Part 2

Tambiyan Samvel
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) International / Doctors Without Borders
Dec 19 2018


Children in difficult situations: 30 years of MSF in Armenia

The second in a three-part series commemorating 30 years of MSF activities in Armenia

Opening another important chapter of MSF’s work in Armenia, in 1997 the organisation set up a unique project for ‘children in difficult situations’ in Vardashen special education complex in the capital, Yerevan.

Vardashen housed children who demonstrated so-called “socially dangerous behaviour”, children who had ended up on the street, and children whose families didn’t have the means to look after them. At that time, institutions of its kind were all too often places of physical and psychological abuse.

Vardashen special education complex, Yerevan, Armenia, 1 March 2002.

MSF staff at Vardashen were on duty day and night to prevent violence in the school. “The head guard was extremely cruel to the children,” one of the MSF team members said. “He was obviously enjoying beating them up. The children were hung upside down and beaten with clubs.”

MSF provided medical and psychological care, legal and social support to children in Vardashen, whose staff also received training. Eventually, the institution’s cruel punitive methods were replaced by an educational approach.

Meanwhile, MSF’s main objective was to return the children to their families. Staff were in close contact with them and offered practical assistance, for example by helping vulnerable families apply for housing or welfare support.

MSF’s work in Vardashen not only resulted in the rights of children there being protected and in many cases reunited with their families; it also helped reposition those children as victims not perpetrators, and helped advocate for children’s rights in Armenia generally.  

Children at Vardashen special education complex, in Yerevan, Armenia, 1 March 2002. Florence Gaty
A drawing class for children in Vardashen special education complex, Yerevan, Armenia, 1 March 2002. Florence Gaty

After three years working in Vardashen special education complex, MSF started reaching out to other children living or working on the streets of Yerevan.

A reception and orientation centre was opened for the children and their families – offering psychological, medical and social support to provide a better alternative to children living on the street.

“Only from MSF I saw real care and respect because only MSF saw my way from street to home, not to police unit,” one beneficiary said. “MSF taught me not to be afraid of people.”

In one exceptional case, MSF bought a house for a family with six children who would have otherwise ended up on the street or in Vardashen. For other families, MSF teams renovated houses, provided heating or helped parents to find jobs.

A family living in an old train carriage, in the village of Masis, near Yerevan, Armenia, 1 March 2002.

Florence Gaty
One of several day centres set up by MSF in Sevan and surrounding villages for people with mental health problems, Armenia, 4 April 2003.

German Avagyan
MSF offered a very serious alternative to people living on the streets and to putting street children into institutions. That alternative was something new for Armenia, not only for those living on the streets, but also in the field of social work in our country. Later it became an example that many other institutions followed.Araksya Madoyan, MSF social support referent and former social worker.

MSF went another step further in its outreach and advocacy work with the launch of a major awareness-raising campaign in September 2003.

The objective of the ‘Ach mama jan’ (‘Ouch, mummy’) campaign was to draw state and public attention to the plight of children in difficult situations.

Posters were put up all over Yerevan showing children on the street or in Vardashen, together with messages from the children to their parents. A big paper wall – symbolising the walls of Vardashen special educational complex, and the wall between vulnerable children and society – was decorated with many of the children’s thoughts and wishes and ceremonially torn down as part of the campaign.

The campaign gained significant media coverage, helped to raise public awareness and contributed to policy change.

An 'Ouch, mummy' campaign poster in the streets of Yerevan, Armenia, 10 October 2003. Alain Fredaigue

A Russian TV reporter in front of the symbolic wall erected by MSF as part of the 'Ouch, mummy' campaign in Yerevan, Armenia, 10 October 2003. Alain Fredaigue
MSF handed over its ‘children in difficult situations’ project to World Vision in June 2004.
https://www.msf.org/children-difficult-situations-30-years-msf-armenia






Armenia not threatened by default, Central Bank says

Hagop Kamalian
JAM News
Dec 20 2018
JAMnews, Yerevan
Artur Xachatryan

Local media reported earlier that there was a significant outflow of capital and a decrease in remittances.

There is no threat of default to Armenia, the country’s Central Bank says.

The Armenian media previously reported that the country faces default, and predicted a drop in the Armenian dram’s exchange rate.

“It is expected that ‘immediately after the holidays’, the Armenian economy will face serious problems, and the government ‘will be forced to devalue the national currency by 20%’, predicted Zhamanak newspaper.

Armenian media outlets also reported that there is an outflow of capital from Armenia and a reduction in the volume of transfers to the country, which the Central Bank also denies.

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Immediately after the media published this information, the Central Bank of Armenia spoke out.

“The financial system of Armenia today is stable. [Other such] statements and publications may cause unfounded concerns among the public, which are irrelevant from the point of view of the country’s long-term development”, said Central Bank spokesman Harut Kbeyan.

Artur Stepanyan, a member of the Board of the Central Bank of Armenia, also commented on the situation. He refuted the information that capital is being drained out of Armenia. And the reduction in remittances in his opinion, cannot have a significant impact on the Armenian economy:

“The significance of transfers for the Armenian economy is not as great as 10 years ago. Then, remittances amounted to 20-26% of GDP, and then decreased to 17-18% over time, now this figure is at about 10%”. 

Armenian experts have also said that there is no threat to the economy: the revolution has had an impact on economic growth, but the new government has managed to avoid significant stresses.

Economist Vardan Bostanjyan believes that there is no grounding to talk of a default:

“The economic situation in the republic is not cause for concern. 5% economic growth is expected, the budget revenues are successfully fulfilled, the deficit is expected to be lower than planned, the financial market is stable. The rate of inflation is fixed below the lowest mark and fluctuates within 1.8%. Even in the days of the velvet revolution, we did not experience financial destabilisation, although this was expected and quite natural in similar situations.”

The opinion of Vardan Bostanjyan is shared by another economist Hayk Mnatsakanyan. He is confident that the Armenian currency rate will remain stable, despite reports of a possible drop in the dram rate:

“There are no such expectations in the near future. Therefore, citizens can be calm about the future. Capital outflows and inflows are at a stable level.”

While the Armenian media wrote about a possible default, The Economist recognised Armenia as the “country of the year”.

“An ancient and often poorly governed state located in a troubled region this year showed that it has chances for democracy and renewal. For this reason, Armenia is our ‘country of the year’.

“Our country of the year is not the most influential state, not the richest and not the country with the most delicious food… the country of the year recognizes progress”.

Arayik Harutyunyan on new appointment of former head of General Staff Intelligence Directorate: I presented this as interesting information

Karlen Baghdasarian
Arminfo, Armenia
Dec 20 2018

ArmInfo. On December 20, in an  interview with journalists, Acting Minister of Education and Science  Arayik Harutyunyan addressed to the statements he had made in the  past about the new adviser to the Acting Prime Minister Nikol  Pashinyan Arshak Karapetyan after his appointment as a military  attache at the Armenian Embassy in Russia.

"If you watched the video  in full, then I thought it was not strange (appointment ed.), I found  it strange that someone was not punished because of the April events.  I presented it as interesting information, "said Harutyunyan. To note  that he doesn't see any contradictions between the statements he made  in the past about Arshak Karapetyan and his current appointment,  Harutyunyan stressed that the Acting Prime Minister addressed this  issue yesterday.  According to him, Arayik Harutyunyan is satisfied  with these clarifications.

According to the Acting head of the Ministry of Education and  Science, in fact, in the video, he literally said: "There is  interesting information, the head of the intelligence department, who  was sent to the island during the April war, was again appointed  military attache at the Armenian Embassy in Russia, the information  is very interesting. It is very strange that after the April events,  someone was not punished and was not brought to justice.  Earlier it  was reported that appeared in social networks video, in which the  current acting. Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan and Acting  Education and Science Minister Arayik Harutyunyan is talking about  Arshak Karapetyan, believing that he was a fiasco during the April  war.

To recall, by the decree of former President Serzh Sargsyan of April  26, 2016, immediately after the four- day war in Nagorno-Karabakh,  Deputy Minister of Defense – Head of the Logistics Department Alik  Mirzabekyan, Head of the General Staff Arshak Karapetyan's  Intelligence Department and Head of Troops Communications – Head of  Communications and Automated Control Systems Department Komitas  Muradyan were dismissed from their posts. There were no official  comments on the reasons for the reshuffle. But Armenian experts  explained the resignation by the authorities' desire to mitigate the  discontent that followed the four-day war. So, after the hostilities  in early April 2016, much was said that the material and technical  support of the Armenian army was extremely unsatisfactory: according  to some information, sometimes even there was not enough ammunition.  It was also said that the offensive, which was prepared by the Armed  Forces of Azerbaijan, was not identified on time. However, already in  February 2018 he was appointed military attache at the Armenian  Embassy in Russia

Yesterday appeal to the appointment of Arshak Karapetyan as advisor  to the head of government; the Acting Prime Minister said that the  secret material about the April war is not a word about the lack of  intelligence materials. Answering the question that the same  Karapetyan, in accordance with secret order 0038, was also involved  in the events of March 1, 2008, Pashinyan noted that, in accordance  with this order, a very large part of the SC was involved in these  events: "Now we don't can separate this part from the sun? " However,  he stressed that all those whom the investigation finds guilty will  be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Touching upon the  accusations of his comrades-in-arms, now ministers made before the  revolution to the past authorities that Karapetyan after the April  war could not be appointed military attache in the Armenian  diplomatic department in Russia, Pashinyan stressed that all  statements made by his colleagues and himself were before the  revolution, are not a sentence. At the same time, Pashinyan  questioned the justice of Karapetyan's dismissal after the April  events. "I read hundreds of pages of secret materials about the April  war, and, in fact, I can say that we didn't have a shortage of  intelligence materials. We have a lot of questions about the April  war that should be answered and, as far as possible, should be  presented to the society ", – Pashinyan assured, stressing that many  knew about the accumulation of Azerbaijani troops around the  perimeter of the front line until the April war:" But I will refrain  from assessing. "

Yerevan doesn`t want to comment on Baku`s decision to replace army units in Tavush direction of border

Anna Tamamian
Arminfo, Armenia
Dec 20 2018

ArmInfo. Security and the  status of Artsakh are inextricably linked with each other. The press  secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Anna  Naghdalyan stated this at a press conference.

She again recalled the position of Armenia that negotiations should  continue within the OSCE Minsk Group, exclusively by peaceful means,  and the priority is the issues of security and the status of NKR, as  well as the decisive voice of Stepanakert in establishing a lasting  peace. According to her, the heads of the foreign affairs agencies  agreed to maintain the dynamics of the meetings.

Commenting on the recent statement of the Foreign Minister of  Azerbaijan about the meeting with the Armenian counterpart in Milan,  Naghdalyan reiterated that Zohrab Mnatsakanyan said about everything  on December 6 right after the meeting: "It was about reaching mutual  understanding about continuing the dynamics of meetings and agreeing  on the text of the five-sided statement. "It's good that something  similar was heard from Azerbaijan for the first time," Naghdalyan  notes. 

As for the decision of the Azerbaijani authorities to replace the  army units in the Ghazakh and Astafa sections with border units, the  Foreign Ministry believes that it is too early to assess.

Aleppo’s Armenian district Midan coming back to life

Ani Basmajian
News.am, Armenia
Dec 20 2018
Aleppo’s Armenian district Midan coming back to life Aleppo’s Armenian district Midan coming back to life

15:44, 20.12.2018
                

Aleppo, one of the most ancient cities located in the north of Syria, became the homeland of a large Armenian community. However, many of Armenians were forced to leave Syria during the war, News Front news agency reported.

Aleppo’s Armenian district Midan is inhabited particularly by residents of Armenian nationality, but this district is not the only Christian quarter of the city. It is the eastern areas adjacent to the historical center that was bearing the brunt of the war.

This quarter was the main target during the shellings as up to several tens of mines or gas cylinders filled with explosives were flying into the homes of people living there and there was the largest number of affected residents. However, the region is coming back to life. Shops, cafes, mini-workshops and factories have already opened their doors. Now residents will walk the streets without fear.

Midan residents are positive and optimistic, they will do their best to recover and rebuild the city. But the most important thing is that the war is over.

Flour risen in price in Armenia

Lara Chatinian
ARKA, Armenia
Dec 20 2018

YEREVAN, December 20. /ARKA/. The price for a 50-kilogram bag of flour went one US dollar up – from $22 to $23, Zhamanak reports.  

The cereal price rose as well – by 40 cents. 

The media source finds it remarkable that flour and cereal are sold for dollars, not for Armenian drams in a clear breach of the law. 

Remarkable is also that all flour producers increased the prices on the same day and evenly, which gives grounds for suspecting an anticompetitive collusion. 

Although the price for a bag of flour rose by $1, a loaf of bread became more expensive by 10 to 20 drams, i.e. by 2,500- 4,000 drams per one 50-kilogram sack. -0—

WJC Jewish Diplomat in Armenia: Israeli resilience following the Holocaust is a key factor to its success as a nation

Andranik Taslakhchian
World Jewish Congress
December 18 2018
WJC Jewish Diplomat in Armenia: Israeli resilience following the Holocaust is a key factor to its success as a nation
 
 
World Jewish Congress Jewish Diplomat Ruth Ouazana (Israel/France) delivered a speech on Israel’s revival following the Holocaust on behalf of the WJC at an event organized by the Jewish Community of Armenia.
 
The Jewish Community of Armenia together with the Armenia-Israel Forum hosted a scientific session on Friday titled “From national catastrophes to state revival.” The session aimed to explore Armenia’s and Israel’s revivals following their respective national catastrophes and to strengthen the Armenia-Israel bilateral relationship by sharing best practices and key lessons.
 
Participants at the event included the adviser to the President of Armenia, Armenia’s Ambassador to Israel and other known Armenian and Israeli scientists, state officials, national minority leaders, members of the Jewish community of Armenia, journalists and businessmen.
 
WJC Jewish Diplomat Ruth Ouazana spoke about how the resilience of the Jewish people and Israel following the Holocaust helped shape Israel into the country it is today – a modern and thriving democracy that has become one of the most innovative countries in the world today. See excerpts of her speech below:
 
“I want to speak to today you as a French Jew, as an Israeli Jew, as an NGO leader and as a leader of the Jewish Diplomatic Corps of the World Jewish Congress.
 
The World Jewish Congress, founded in Geneva in 1936, is the umbrella organization representing Jewish communities in 100 countries to governments, parliaments and international organizations. We are commonly described as the diplomatic arm of the Jewish people.
 
The WJC Jewish Diplomatic Corps is the flagship diplomacy program of the World Jewish Congress and a worldwide network of over 250 Jewish professionals from 50 countries acting in the fields of diplomacy and public policy on behalf of world Jewry.
 
As an Israeli Jew, I will be happy to give you insights into the Israeli society today, how its education and state of mind has very possibly been shaped in constructive ways by the catastrophe of the Holocaust and how it helped the country become one of the most innovative countries in the world today.
 
As an NGO leader and a leader of the WJC Jewish Diplomatic Corps, I feel a responsibility to make the world a better place. And as a leader of the Jewish Diplomatic Corps of the World Jewish Congress, I feel proud and honored to be with you here today to be able to share ideas and knowledge.
 
For the first part of my remarks I will introduce the notion of resilience, and we will see how it applies to Israelis in their everyday life. In the second part I will discuss the achievements of Israel as a state, and how Jews might have used the characteristic of resilience to create a State different from most other states.
 
… Resilience is different to resistance to stress. Consider the differences between steel and rubber as an example. A steel bar is resistant to stress and is capable of maintaining its form while bearing large loads. But steel is susceptible to shearing and completely breaking. A rubber brick, on the other hand, will bend easily under even small loads, but it's extremely difficult to snap or break. Moreover, once the load is removed from the rubber, its flexibility returns it to its original form.
 
Boris Cyrulnik, being himself the son of a Holocaust survivor, introduced to France the psychological notion of resilience, based on the observation of survivors of the Holocaust.
 
… Every day, on behalf of over 100 Jewish communities that we represent, the World Jewish Congress tirelessly works to support and defend the rights of the Jewish State, especially in the international arena.
 
As the flagship program of the WJC, members of our program are equally committed to these efforts. Just at the UN Human Rights Council alone, members of the WJC Jewish Diplomatic Corps have delivered over 70 statements in the past 4 years in defense of the Jewish people, the Jewish state, and universal human rights.
 
Our members conduct diplomatic meetings around the world advocating for the security and welfare Israel. We engage in viral social media campaigns to spread the truth about Israel. We publish articles in the local and international media to balance the often unfair treatment of Israel in the media. Standing with Israel is one of the World Jewish Congress’ most crucial priorities.
 
As we see, it is vital to be able to bend in front of catastrophes, either as a person or as a group. Being able to use the hard times we face as a springboard to decide to create something bigger and better. To become stronger from our weaknesses.
 
To create a state that looks like the dream we want to achieve. As wrote Theodor Herzl in the foreword of Altneuland, “If you will it, it is no dream…”
 
We have our dreamers, we have our builders, we have our critics; let’s use all of them to create a state that will be better each and every day – for its citizens, its neighbors, and for the rest of the world!”

Armenia to increase gas import from Iran – ambassador

Ani Basmajian
ARKA, Armenia
Dec 20 2018

YEREVAN, December 20. /ARKA/. Armenian Ambassador to Iran Artashes Tumanyan speaking Wednesday at a meeting themed 'Iran-Armenia ties, opportunities and challenges' Armenia will import larger volumes of natural gas from Iran, Iran.ru reports referring to Iran Daily.  

He also unveiled Yerevan’s intention to increase its electric energy export to Iran and expressed hope that trade turnover between the two countries will grow soon. 

The ambassador said that recent political developments in Armenia have not impacted his country’s foreign policy. 

Commenting on Washington's pressure on Yerevan to reduce relations with Iran, he said: "The US has talked with Armenia about Tehran-Yerevan ties, and they have realized that relations with Tehran are of high significance to us."

Meanwhile, Chairman of Iran-Armenia Friendship Society Mohammadreza Damavandi complained that despite developed historic political and cultural relations, the two countries have failed to broaden relations to desirable extent.

Although Tehran and Yerevan have set a target of $1 billion in trade exchanges, they have achieved only $200 million to $250 million.

In December, Garegin Baghramyan, Armenian acting energy infrastructures and natural resources minister, said that the Unites States’ sanctions against Iran will have absolutely no impact on the Armenian-Iranian program “Gas for Electric Energy”. He said then that as soon as the construction of the third high-voltage line is completed the program will be expanded. 

Armenia started receiving natural gas from Iran through the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline under the mentioned program in May 2015 conveying 3 kWh for 1 cubic meter of gas. 

The Iran-paid construction of the third 400-kilowatt high-voltage line is under way now. –0—