HETQ Online have another in their series of photo stories. This series of photos, by Onnik Krikorian, are about the Specialized Children Home in Kharberd where 200 children with varying degrees of disability reside.

After scandal after scandal in the early nineties, conditions in the state-run institution have now improved thanks to the assistance of foreign and diasporan benefactors as well as the appointment of a new Director. Even so, the children face an uncertain future when they reach the age of eighteen. Throughout June, HETQ Online will look at the situation of other vulnerable groups in Armenia.

The BBC has been criticised from by both Armenian media and the Azeri government on its coverage of Karabagh on its Russian website.

Newspaper Golos Armenii:

The web site does not contain any Armenian view on the Karabakh conflict, excerpt for
“kind human interest stories” about the mood of Karabakh’s Armenian
residents, the newspaper said.

Azeri politician

“I think the Ministry of Foreign Affairs must react to this,” said Anar Mammadkhanli, adding that not only BBC, but also some other foreign news agencies send their correspondents to NK without receiving permission from the Azerbaijani authorities.

Some pro-government politicians are blaming the BBC for bias, but they initially reacted to the BBC’s sending a reporter to Karabagh by threatening to suspend their license to broadcast inside Azerbaijan, all because the BBC had not asked ‘permission’ from Azerbaijan.

Civil Georgia is reporting that Saakashvili will grant dual-citizenship to Georgians living abroad.

I believe this is primarily aimed at getting those living abroad to come home, without risk of losing their foreign citizenship.
Personally, I am a triple-citizen, and I think this is a great idea.
I am not sure what Armenia’s position on this is, but the dual-citizenship law would certainly be a good idea.

The Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS) has released the results of two surveys they carried out.

Entitled “My View of Armenia’s Future” and “Armenia’s Foreign Policy, Orientation, and Attitude toward Power Centers of the World,” they embraced vital issues of concern for both the Republic of Armenia and Armenians worldwide.

There are some interesting findings. It presents detail results on some important questions; most urgent issue, the possibility of resolving the Karabagh conflict, international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, as well as poverty recognition, all key factors in Armenia’s future.

Read the full press release.

An Armenian journalist and Azerbaijani scientist have worked together to produce a brochure ‘Karabakh conflict, settlement-schemes: ideas and reality’.

Reported on ArtsakhWorld, the work looks at various aspects of the conflict. First published in 2002, it has been updated with additional materials.

Always a source of well-written article, ArmeniaNow this week has a story about Kashatagh.

“Kashatagh is the land of our ancestors,” says head of administration of Kashatagh Alexan Hakobian. “Armenians living here began thinning out 100 years ago. As a result of the policy conducted by Stalin it became a part of Azerbaijan. Today Kashatagh is again Armenian and it will be forever.”

There are some touching stories of people from other regions of Armenia moving in. Kashatagh is not inhabited by people from Karabagh, but rather from other regions of Armenia itself. What will happen to these people in any future peace settlement is unsettling.

Read the full article at ArmeniaNow.

Ara Manoogian over at Martuni or Bust has posted the story from Azg about a cold food storage facility in Gyumri being sold for $150,000. This facility was originally built with money from the Diaspora, and was (or is) worth $5 million.

It is being sold to the Gechor Company:

The Gechor Company belongs to Parliament member Martin Soukiassian. He paid $150,000 for the facility built through donations by 35,000 people and which is worth $5 million. The facility was built by Intercool, a Danish company, under contract to AGBU.

OK, this sort of thing goes on from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, but when 35,000 people have given money to help provide for the people of Gyumri, it becomes personal. There is already a widespread skepticism (correct me if I am wrong) within the Diaspora about aid to Armenia. This kind of thing can only make it worse.

Read the full story.

MediaMax reports that Armenia’s stalled relationship with Turkey may harm cooperation efforts with NATO.

Kocharyan has refused to join the Istanbul NATO summit in June, apparently to draw attention the bad state of relations between Yerevan and Ankara.
more…

The WWF Caucasus Programme has announced an $8.5 million grant to help protect endangered species in the Caucasus.

The forests, high mountain ecosystems and arid landscapes of the Caucasus contain more than twice the animal diversity found in adjacent regions of Europe and Asia. However, biodiversity of the Caucasus is being lost at an alarming rate. Human activities have transformed nearly half of the lands. Fifty-one species are at risk, including the Critically Endangered Saiga antelope, Siberian crane and Baltic
(Atlantic) sturgeon.

more…

OTE’s Georgios Vasilikis says his company has so far invested $216 million in Armentel, Armenia’s until now telecoms monopoly. (Via Interfax)

He said that the company will continue to work in Armenia after the company’s monopoly on mobile communications and external Internet services is restricted on June 30, following a government ruling.

The background to this is that OTE have lost that monopoly, originally guaranteed to them by the Armenian government.

More about the on-again off-again opposition protests in Yerevan. Interfax reports that Aram Sarkisian (a former prime minister), has announced that the opposition intends to cease all opposition protest until June 4th.

“If our arrested friends are not released by this date, we will march to President Kocharian’s residence and explain our demands to him,” Sarkisian said.

Sarkisian said hurrying could harm the opposition’s struggle for a change of power in the country.

HETQ Online has another photo story, this time about unexploded ordinance and mines left over from from Karabagh conflict.

Onnik Krikorian, a British-born photojournalist, similarly has this series of photos on the same website, about mine clearance in Karabagh.

Armenian President Kocharyan is complaining about the opposition:

“Opposition is part of Armenia’s political system and when the attitude towards its is unclear, this extends also on the whole country. It is here where the opposition should feel the responsibility for the country, as apart from the authorities, it too has to build its international image,” Kocharian said, adding that unfortunately the opposition has devaluated (sic) by its way of acting what is perceived as ‘opposition.’

So, he’d like the opposition to be more focused?

(Via Groong)
more…

Congressman Frank Pallone, JR, has called for aid parity for Armenia and Azerbaijan in response to Aliyev’s statements about the possibility of reclaiming Karabagh by force.
Aid parity has been called into question recently by the Bush administration, with their eagerness to increase aid to Azerbaijan without a corresponding increase for Armenia. This is most likely a reward for Azerbaijan’s small part in the ‘Coalition of the willing’ and influenced by the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline.

Pallone is cochairman of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues.

I found this online newspaper service today: http://www.armeniannewspapers.com/

They offer online version of three Armenian newspapers (Aravot, Azg, and Golos Armenii) in PDF (Acrobat) format, priced at $10 per month. I haven’t tried it out, but it looks well set up, and you can subscribe or purchase a single edition.

Not exactly a surprise. Moscow News reports that the real reason for the talks was the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline. This pipeline, which will bring gas from Turkmenistan to Armenia via Iran has angered Washington, and Russia is also displeased, seeing the pipeline as potential competition for its own pipeline to Europe.

The pipeline is not meant to connect to Europe, but if it is extended to Georgia (which could happen), then the gas could be shipped to western Europe.

On May 13 the final signatures were placed by Iran and Armenia on a project to build an oil pipeline from Iran to Armenia with possible plans to extend the shipping network to Georgia, Ukraine, and even Europe. The United States was the first country to criticize the plan and went as far as to threaten economic sanctions against Armenia should it finalize the deal with the Islamic republic.

Russia, too, disapproved of the plan, but for different reasons: If a second gas supplier appeared from the East, Russia would lose its gas-supply monopoly to Europe. In early March such fears seemed to be validated, as Armenia’s Energy Minister, Armen Movsisyan, said, “After the ‘Blue Stream’ project is realized, building long-distance sea gas pipelines will no longer be a fantasy.”

Meanwhile, Aravot has the following report about the meeting.
more…

The Pontic Greeks, those who lived along the southern coast of the Black Sea, were also massacred at the hands of the Turks. ArmenPress has this story about the recent commemoration at Tsitsernakaberd in Yerevan.

Of the 700,000 Greeks living in Pontus (the area stretching along the southern coastline of the Black Sea) in 1914, 300,000 were killed as a result of Turkish government policy and the remainder became refugees. “Three millennia of the Greek and Armenian presence was wiped out by a deliberate policy of creating a Turkey for the Turks. The Pontian people were denied the right to exist, the right of respect for their national and cultural identity, and the right to remain on land they had lived on for countless generations, ” the ambassador said addressing the present.

This Saturday will see a protest, not political this time, but environmental, against further construction in the remaining green spaces of Zeytun district, according to A1 Plus.

Coalition for Preservation of Green Plantations and the Armenian Environmental Union will be involved.

Bakutoday is reporting that the US administration is pressuring Armenia for political reform in return for more aid. This extra aid is available under its poverty reduction program.

So, we those countries that want extra aid to help relieve poverty will need political freedoms, human rights, etc. But those countries that don’t want to introduce any political reforms probably aren’t interested in relieving poverty either.

It’ll be interesting to see what Kocharyan’s reaction to this, coming as it does in the middle of the opposition’s efforts to induce reform.

“Experience has shown us that the way a government treats its people and the environment that is created for political participation is intricately connected with economic success,” Pascual argued. He noted that while Armenia ranks high in the MCA indicators of economic reform and market liberalization, its government’s record on “political rights and civil liberties” leaves much to be desired.

Read the full article at Bakutoday.

Here’s a report from Izvestia on the background to Aliyev’s belicose statements on Karabagh.

The majority of experts state that the Azerbaijani Army is not prepared for defeating Armenian units. Of course, the ratio of force has changed over the past ten years. Azerbaijan has been spending a substantial part of oil export revenues on the modernization of its army. At present it’s much stronger than in 1992-1994. Meanwhile, no one can guarantee that it can win a victory in a war against Armenia. It is evident that Armenia will use all reserves to help Nagorny Karabakh. The point is that Armenian President Robert Kocharyan was born in Stepanakert and headed the state defense committee in Nagorny Karabakh in 1992-1994.

(Via Groong)
more…