Sarah Palin did not know Africa is a continent

From Sarah Palin’s classics. Oh, I’ll miss her :)

Read also here

Inspirational: "I am American"

They proved that impossible is possible in America. They proved that ‘American dream’ exists. With all its shortcomings, this was a huge democratic exercise.

Over the last decade, and especially last years, US reputation fell down below the lowest possible denominator. It became a bad tone to say "I am American". No longer. At least for now, for me it sounds more like a compliment. Now they may proudly say: "I am American".

I knew that November is going to be a special month for me. It indeed turned out to be very special for personal/professional reasons. It's now very special for the 4th November too, double, triple special. It feels great, inspirational.

Expectations are so high of him that chances to get disappointed are very high too. Beginning of new era, or so I hope.

Let's prove them right!

As The Armenian Vote Goes, So Goes The Nation?

Crazy as it sounds, losing the Armenian vote just might cost McCain the election.

*source: The Stiletto blog

(This political blog supports John McCain! As they explained, "The point of this post was to let the Repubs know that the actions they took a year ago came at a political cost, even though Armenians seemed small enough a group to screw over without any serious consequences.")

**via Armenians for Obama Facebook group

Empty words: Karabakh talks in Moscow

OK, the only fact of negotiations (not war) taking place is positive, indeed. Armenian and Azeri sides reiterated their readiness to “continue” negotiations, and to continue it under the OSCE Minsk group mediations and according to those (not so) mysterious Madrid principles, full details of which are yet to be disclosed.

Full text of the “Declaration” (in Russian)

I am afraid I do not share excitement of number of news agencies which specifically mention that for the first time in 14-15 years, Armenian and Azeri presidents signed under the “Declaration”. So what? There were always meetings and discussions on various levels, including presidents, over the past decade but nothing came out of the negotiations, for real. The only reason that today Armenian and Azeri presidents signed under the “Declaration” is because this was a meeting initiated by Russia, and (taking into account current geopolitical situation in the region) Russia had to show that it achieved some kind of ‘breakthrough’ even if there is none.

Disappointment: Armenian opposition’s fact finding mission nominee

Opposition Armenian National Congress and the Heritage Party issued a statement today (also here) that they will participate in fact finding mission to investigate 1 March events. However, they stated reservations and pledged to re-assess their participation in a month time.

Personnel policy was one of the weakest sides of Ter-Petrosyan administration during his presidency. That was one of the reasons of subsequent disappointment of many of his supporters. I thought that they learned from their own mistakes, and professionalism will be put forward in any further considerations. I know less and cannot comment about Seda Safaryan (parliamentarian opposition Heritage party nominee). However, appointment of Andranik Kocharyan as opposition Armenian National Congress’s nominee for fact finding mission is a troubling sign. Is this the alternative to the current authorities that the opposition promises us?

Andranik Kocharyan was never famous neither for his professional qualities nor personal qualities while serving at various governmental levels in past. If he is the opposition’s choice for fact finding mission to investigate 1 March events, then there is something very wrong with that opposition. They should not then put the blame solely on the authorities for the possible failure of that mission. Disappointing altogether.

Only in Georgia...

Matthew Collin posts this amusing photo (by Ana Iaseshvili) from Tbilisi which shows “Georgia's new Minister for Refugees making his preferences clear” in relation to the upcoming US presidential elections. While most people outside the US would prefer Barak Obama’s victory on 4 November, in Georgia - preferences are for John McCain.

No surprises here, as “George Bush remains a popular figure in Georgia" (photo).

Armenia-Turkey's "new climate": "extraordinary decisions" imminent?

Intrigue of The Day

(ARKA). Armenia is negotiating with Turkey on the opening of borders and establishing relations without any preconditions, said Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian at a press conference in Yerevan on Thursday.

"This means that establishment of relations does not depend on any preconditions, and there is no need to link this issue with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict", - he said.

In the meantime, Today's Zaman reports: “We need to be constructive and supportive. Everything has changed in the Caucasus. Everybody is ready to review old attitudes. In my visit [to Armenia], I presented a new climate. When there is a new climate, problems can be solved,” he [Turkey's president Abdullah Gül] said in response to reporters’ questions as to whether he expects concrete steps to be taken between Turkey and Armenia following his visit to Armenia in September.

At a reception on the occasion of the Turkish Republic’s 85th birthday at the Çankaya presidential palace, Gül said he is hopeful and expects new developments.

Gül broke a taboo when he visited Armenia to watch a soccer match between national teams of the two countries. Talks between officials of Turkey and Armenia, which have had no formal ties since 1993, are under way to re-establish relations. Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian said this week that the two countries could announce “extraordinary decisions” at any time, emphasizing that there was no real barrier to efforts to normalize ties.

*/emphasis mine/

Halloween in Armenia: political prisoners... on the Northern Avenue

On Friday, 31 October 2008, 2pm, similar protest action of people wearing masks of political prisoners will be held in front of the prosecutor's office in Yerevan.

BBC: “Georgia may have committed war crimes”

Is this the beginning of the end for Saakashvili’s regime?

In fact, that ‘beginning’ started 1 year ago... It's taking too long, too many devastations, too many lives...
***

The BBC has discovered evidence that Georgia may have committed war crimes in its attack on its breakaway region of South Ossetia in August.

Eyewitnesses have described how its tanks fired directly into an apartment block, and how civilians were shot at as they tried to escape the fighting.

Research by the international investigative organisation Human Rights Watch also points to indiscriminate use of force by the Georgian military, and the possible deliberate targeting of civilians.

Indiscriminate use of force is a violation of the Geneva Conventions, and serious violations are considered to be war crimes.

The allegations are now raising concerns among Georgia's supporters in the West.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband [normally a strong supporter of Georgia] has told the BBC the attack on South Ossetia was "reckless". He said he had raised the issue of possible Georgian war crimes with the government in Tbilisi.

The evidence was gathered by the BBC on the first unrestricted visit to South Ossetia by a foreign news organisation since the conflict. More...

Related - President Mikhail Saakashvili has denied that Georgia's armed forces committed war crimes during their attack on South Ossetia in August.

Revealed: "The Nature Minister’s Private House on the Shores of Sevan"

A few months ago, when the Armenian government was debating the permissible amounts of water that could be drawn from Lake Sevan, the press was full of reports that the agreed upon 360 million cubic meters of water to be extracted wasn’t needed for agricultural irrigation usage but rather to save the numerous property sites of government officials from the rising lake’s waters.

At the time, government officials and National Assembly Deputies labeled such allegations as ridiculous and without merit.

The private house pictured here on the shore of Lake Sevan, with its numerous annexes, belongs to Aram Harutyunyan, the Minister of Nature Protection. (The photo depicts only a portion of the private compound). Construction on the house began this year and renovation work is still continuing. The house is located on the road that leads from the village of Shorzha to the Artanish Nature Preserve, a few meters removed from the shoreline. Sources close to “Hetq” claim that one year ago the house site was a part of the Artanish Preserve lands and that it was detached from the Preserve’s boundaries after a decision passed by the government.

*Hetq Online

Bird hunting at the Sevan National Reserve in Armenia

*via Hetq Online

27 October 1999, Yerevan, Armenia (new video footage via A1+)

Chilling... RIP...

(Comments off)

Armenian Minority Rights Violated by the Georgian Authorities (new facts and statement)

The construction of wall around Norashen church /18.10.2008/


Statement by Yerkir Union of Non-governmental Organisations for Repatriation and Settlement

To All International Organizations, Embassies and Human Rights Structures Operating in Georgia

Despite international obligations assumed by the Georgian government for the protection of the rights of ethnic minorities in Georgia, despite numerous recommendations and appeals by international organizations, including the UN Human rights commission and human rights NGO-s to respect these obligations, the Georgian authorities continue to ignore and disregard issues of concern to the Armenian minority, contributing moreover, by a number of new steps, to the aggravation of tensions and the increase of discontent.

Within this context, the Georgian authorities have not only continued to disregard repeated demands by the Georgian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church asking to be handed over Armenian churches of Georgia and particularly the Norashen church in Tbilisi, confiscated in the soviet era, but have also tacitly encouraged and sometimes even actively helped hostile actions on behalf of the Georgian clergy which is actively embarked for a certain time now in the process of self-appropriation of the Armenian churches in Georgia. In this line of action, the Georgian authorities recently provided once again construction permits to the clergy of the Georgian church neighboring Norashen, allowing it to build around Norashen a surrounding wall carrying Georgian religious ornaments, considerably complicating in this way the access to the Armenian church.

Due to protest actions of the Armenian community of Tbilisi and to appeals emanating from Armenian Apostolic Church authorities, several Armenian NGOs, including “Yerkir” Organization, it was possible to temporarily halt in May of the current year the hostile activities of Georgian priests, but construction works around the Armenian Norashen church resumed on a wide scale a few days ago (see attached photos).

In addition to this hostile policy towards the Armenian Apostolic Church in Georgia, while dealing with the Armenian minority in their country, Georgian authorities continue to violate basic international human rights’ and democratic norms pertaining to this field. Thus, among other shortcomings within this context, they continue to maintain politically-motivated criminal charges against the political activists of the Armenian populated Javakheti region and their family members, lately arrested and imprisoned without real foundations.

Thus, Arthur Poghosyan, an activist of the political movement “Democratic Alliance “United Javakhk”, was recently sentenced to 2.5 years of imprisonment on the basis of fabricated charges. Another activist of the movement, Gurgen Shirinyan, has a search warrant issued against him by the authorities, while his father and aunt are detained and waiting trial. The leader of “United Javakhk”, Vahagn Chakahlyan, in turn, as well as his juvenile brother, are also in detention in Tbilisi, while their father, Rouben Chakhalyan, has been set free on bail.

Other issues which are a matter of concern for the Armenian minority still remain unresolved:
- the Armenian Apostolic Church continues to be deprived of a status of legal entity;
- the Armenian Minority in Georgia, particularly the part of it living compactly in the Javakheti region, continues to be under-represented in all spheres of public life;
- the Georgian central Government continues to enforce the laws obliging minorities to use exclusively the Georgian language in all fields of public activity, and particularly in the local administrations and local educational system within the context of regional self-government.
- posts in the local administration, educational sphere or any other post for the holders of professional diplomas continue to be contingent on the knowledge of the Georgian language.

Under the actual circumstances, while Georgia is still recovering with difficulty from the consequences of the recent armed conflict with Russia and is announcing the launching of a wave of democratization reforms and the enforcement of the rule of law, such a treatment by the Georgian authorities of its Armenian minority looks in fact much more irrational.

Taking into consideration the above mentioned facts, “Yerkir” Union calls upon the appropriate and specialized structures of the United Nations, the European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Council of Europe, as well as of all other concerned international organizations and human rights bodies, to take immediate and direct measures to restrain Georgia’s negative current behavior against its Armenian minority, to put an end to the political persecutions in Javakheti, and to facilitate the emergence of a solution for the Armenian community of Georgia, as far as its minority rights are the issue, and in particular, to ensure this result by obtaining from the Georgian authorities to:

1. Set free all political prisoners recently detained in Javakheti and withdraw all politically motivated criminal charges against them;

2. Implement the rule of law and guarantee the security of the Armenian population of Javakheti;

3. Ensure the freedom of faith in the country and register the Armenian Apostolic Church as a legal entity in Georgia;

4. Return all confiscated places of worship to their legitimate owners;

5. Allow by law the use of the Armenian language in all spheres of public life in the local administrations of all regions where Armenians represent a majority.

The international community must act now to avoid further aggravation of the situation and prevent the emergence of a new seat of conflict.

24 October 2008

Disclosed: Madrid principles of Karabakh conflict settlement (updated!)

UPDATE (27 October 2008): Thanks to Ruben Muradyan who pointed out in the comments section below that the principles of Karabakh conflict settlement posted in this blog (with the reference to The Karabakh Deal blog) are in fact recommendations by the International Crisis Group. As I mentioned in comments section, they sounded very similar to what is allegedly referred to "Madrid principles". Also, Ter-Petrosyan's outline of "Madrid principles" during the rally which I copied an extract from in this post, was in line with that outline.

So here we are again. We still need to get access to the original document on "Madrid principles", which Serj Sargsyan said is available in Internet but which is impossible to find a genuine copy of.


OSCE Minsk Group Karabakh Conflict Report - Madrid

RECOMMENDATIONS

To the Governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan:

1. Agree before the 2008 elections on a document of basic principles making provision for:

(a) security guarantees and the deployment of international peacekeepers;

(b) withdrawal of Armenian and Nagorno-Karabakh forces from all occupied territories adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh, with special modalities for Kelbajar and Lachin;

(c) return of displaced persons;

(d) Nagorno-Karabakh’s final status to be determined eventually by a vote, with an interim status to be settled on until that time; and

(e) reopening of all transport and trade routes.

More... (source: The Karabakh Deal)

Below is the extract from Armenia’s opposition leader, former president Levon Ter-Petrosyan speech during the latest rally listing the basic principles of the proposed Karabakh settlement.

“Thus, it is perfectly obvious that we are standing on the brink of a resolution to the Karabagh conflict. It is also beyond doubt that the Madrid proposal, which the Minsk Group gave to the parties in December, 2007, and which is based on the idea of reconciling two principles of international law – the right to national self-determination and the principle of inviolability of territorial integrity – will be the basis of the new proposal. As for the essence of the resolution or the specific program, it will consist of approximately the following points:

1. Withdrawal of Armenian forces from the Azerbaijani regions surrounding Nagorno-Karabagh;
2. Resettlement of these regions with Azerbaijani refugees;
3. Return of Azerbaijani refugees to the territory of Nagorno-Karabagh itself;
4. Provision of an overland link connecting Nagorno-Karabagh to Armenia through the Lachin corridor;
5. Deployment of peace-keeping forces on across the borders of Nagorno-Karabagh;
6. Demilitarization of the territories that have been returned to Azerbaijan;
7. Lifting of the blockade of Armenia’s and Karabagh’s external communications, and reopening of the Armenian-Turkish border;
8. Definition of an interim status for Nagorno-Karabagh Republic;
9. Conduct of a referendum on the final status of Nagorno-Karabagh in some undefined, future date;
10. Provision of international financial aid for the restoration of the conflict zone.”

As I said before, these principles (November/December 2007) look very similar to the phased version (September 1997) of the conflict settlement (except added Karabakh referendum part) over which Ter-Petrosyan was forced to resign in February 1998. Although many concerned about the lack of clarity related to the principles and the principles themselves, RFE/RL notes that Ter-Petrosyan “did not specify whether he thinks Yerevan should go along with them. He said only that the Armenian side should have the mediators clarify when proposed referendum would take place and who would administer it. Ter-Petrosian had earlier described those principles as largely acceptable and stressed the fact that they are similar to a peace plan which he had strongly advocated while in power.”

Post deleted: (re alleged stabbing incident with Indian students in Yerevan)

Many thanks to all readers of my blog who made comments (Anonymous, Onnik Krikorian, Souren); also to all readers of my blog and my friends who were helping me to establish whether the incident happened and its circumstances.

However, as it was not possible to get confirmation of this story from other sources and taking into account the sensitivity of the subject matter, I decided to delete this post.

Thanks for your understanding!

"Burnt alive": new photo testifying of the Armenian Genocide revealed

The photo originally published in the “Album of refugees” in 1917.

The original photo found in 2008 by AGMI.

The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute reports:

Recently, the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute’s efforts towards collection of new data on the Armenian genocide have experienced great success with the enrichment of AGMI’s collection of documentary photographs. The most recent discovery is a photo testifying of the Armenian Genocide and in particular the massacres of the Armenian population in the region of Mush.

The photograph has been acquired by the AGMI and was captured by Russian soldiers on the Caucasus front in 1915. It portrays the remains of the Armenian villagers who were burnt alive during the massacres of Mush.

This photograph is one of a kind. It is one of the well preserved photos discovered in an album called, “Album of refugees” published in Tiflis (1917). The album is consisted from 62 unique photos that demonstrate the events of the Armenian Genocide. However, only a few of the original 62 have survived and most of them are in dire conditions.

Nonetheless, the authenticity of the “Album of refugees” is demonstrated through the validity and great condition of this unique photo. On the back of this picture is a quote in Russian stating; “Armenians burnt alive in Sheykhalan by Turkish soldiers”. Furthermore, the photo is marked with the number 74, which indicates the existence of a larger collection of photographs captured by Russian soldiers during WWI.

Hence, the AGMI is adamant in locating the remaining photos of this collection which will sturdily assist the Institute’s efforts to demonstrate the complete picture of the first genocide of the 20th century.

Another banned film - "Opera" by Tigran Khzmalyan. Watch it!

*via A1+

Film was banned by the Armenian authorities from showing at the Venice Biennale.

Armenia: Is this the light at the end of the tunnel?

Armenia’s incumbent president Serj Sargsyan signed a decree on forming the fact-finding team to shed the light on 1 March events, particularly the use of lethal force against opposition supporters and circumstances of death of at least 10 people. The team comprises equal numbers of the ruling coalition (2 representatives) and opposition: 1 representative from the only opposition parliamentary party Heritage, and 1 representative from Ter-Petrosyan led opposition political alliance. There will be also 1 representative from the human rights Ombudsman office.

Presidential decree (in Armenian)

This is the most important decision to come out from the presidential office in Armenia in the aftermath of 1 March events. First real step from the authorities to alleviate internal political crisis. First real step made by the Armenian authorities to meet Council of Europe demands, ahead of crucial visit of Commissioner for Human Rights Hammarberg towards the end of the year. First real step by the authorities following Ter-Petrosyan lead opposition announcement that they are calling off street protests in Yerevan. Not enough, but essential. Next step should be release of all political prisoners. (So far there has been no positive signs with this regard, but there is hope.) This will create a basis for political dialogue in Armenia and will at least partially clear up Armenia’s troubled international image. There is a lot at stake.

Press Freedom Index 2008: “Deterioration in the Caucasus”

*via Reporters Without Borders

"The most significant development in the former Soviet periphery is the deterioration in the Caucasus, where two of its three independent countries - Armenia (102nd) and Georgia (120th) - had major problems and introduced states of emergency. Several journalists fell victim to the sudden outbreak of war in Georgia."

The ranking

102. Armenia (77 - in 2007)
Turkey (101)
120. Georgia (66)
141. Russia (144)
150. Azerbaijan (139)
166. Iran (166)

Cognac of Peace?

Russia president Medvedev visits Armenia


Lragir.am, quoting the press office of Armenia president, reports that “Dmitry Medvedev stopped in front of the Barrel of Peace in which the spirit of 1994 symbolizing the year of the cease-fire is aging. By the way, the barrel is called the Barrel of Peace because it will be opened on the day when the settlement of the Karabakh issue is finally reached.”

It seems to me that we are reaching the situation frighteningly resembling that of beginning 1998. In its essence, 'Madrid principles' (current working plan on Karabakh) = 'phased settlement' (1997). The main difference is the notion of referendum to determine Karabakh's final status. However, what we know so far about the "referendum" is so vague that unless it gets clearly stated and clarified - how, when, who... it will remain a meaningless notion. In any case, the question is: shall we expect no agreement and/or resignations? Effectively, we are in a déjà vu situation now.

Yerevan Brandy Factory presented a barrel of brandy to Russian president.

*photo - via president.am