Official translation of speech given by NKR President Bako Sahakyan

“Dear compatriots,

I cordially congratulate you on our state holiday – the Day of the Artsakh Republic.

This holiday is important and memorable for all Artsakh people, as everyone has had his personal contribution to the formation and development of our independent statehood. Of course, we still have a lot to do both in the field of foreign policy and in the socioeconomic sphere. »»»»»

Turkey wants to see positive signs before border is opened

At a seminar held today in Yerevan of Armenian journalists and representatives of Turkish educational and civil structures, Behlul Ozkan, an instructor of foreign relations at Istanbul’s Bogazici University, stated that there would be no progress in Armenian-Turkish relations without positive developments on the Karabakh front.

“One must understand, he said, that Armenian-Turkish relations cannot be independently viewed from Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, because Baku is an ally of Turkey in the south Caucasus.” He added that there were millions of people in Turkey who viewed Azerbaijan as a related nation and had quite friendly feelings towards it. »»»»»

Dear Compatriots,

I congratulate you on the occasion of the Nagorno Karabakh Independence Day.

Artsakh’s independence is one of the most brilliant pages of modern Armenian history, the greatest achievement of our nation. We fully appreciate the price for independence, which was paid by the blood of thousands of Armenian sons and daughters. We honor their undying glory. »»»»»

Father Shmavon Ghevondyan, pastor of the St. Hovhannes Armenian Apostolic Church in Yerevan’s Kond neighbourhood, called for the allotment of same-sized cemetery plots for all and said that the Church was opposed to gravestones depicting images of the deceased. The clergyman noted, however, that such church practices were not abided by and there was little that anyone could do.

Father Ghevondyan added that the Church was opposed to the cremation of the deceased and that more cemeteries should be built. »»»»»

A prominent Turkish Alevi organization has applied to the European Court of Human Rights, seeking equal religious treatment before the law.

The Cem Foundation is protesting a Turkish court ruling that denied its demands that Alevi community prayer houses be officially registered as places of worship, like a mosque, church or synagogue. It had also demanded that Alevi religious leaders be included on the state payroll, like Sunni imams. »»»»»

On September 5, the RoA National Assembly will debate a resolution on the recognition of the NKR by Armenia. Hetq caught up with MP Hakob Hakobyan, a member of the ruling Republican Party faction and Chair of the Standing Committee on Social Affairs.

Try as we might, we couldn’t get MP Hakobyan to state categorically whether he would vote for recognising the NKR or not. What follows is the give and take that occurred. »»»»»

41 residents of the village of Artavaz, in Kotayk Marz, say they are sticking to their guns in the class action lawsuit they have brought against the Armenian government.

On February 25, 2010, the government declared 96 hectares of village land as “eminent domain” and to be turned over to the A&M Rare Company to build a bottling facility for local spring water. The company’s director is Muhammed Mousallam, a Saudi Arabian sheikh. »»»»»

By David Kelly

Armenians like to say that that if they can’t achieve anything themselves, all the better if they can take down a rival. Sounds familiar.

However, given a history littered with earthquakes, genocide and political repression, perhaps theirs is an attitude slightly more explicable than that prevailing closer to home. »»»»»

This morning as I drove past the State Economics Institute on Nalbandyan Street in Yerevan I saw two Red Berets standing on the corner in front of the entrance.

Today is back to school day across Armenia and students were flocking in front of their college buildings waiting for class to start while smoking slim cigarettes and playing with cell phones, as they do every day. (Read more in Footprints)

According to the NKR Ministry of Defense, at around 6:30 yesterday morning Azerbaijani forces attempted to advance on an NKR frontline position in the northeast sector, in the vicinity of the village of Verin Chailou. Armenian forces were able to halt their advance and the Azeri unit left behind 7 dead.

The NKR Defense Army also denied statements emanating out of Baku that the Armenian side had started the incident and that Armenian losses amounted to 3 dead and 1 wounded. During the skirmish Roudik Manasaeryan, an NKR soldier, was wounded.

Yesterday, organizers of the Malatya International Film Festival (MUFF) shrugged off allegations that by naming one of its awards “Golden Apricot” it was violating the copyright laws of the Yerevan film festival of the same name.

Last week, the Yerevan organizers of the “Golden Apricot Film Festival” announced that they haven’t yet decided whether to take legal action and that they are still investigating the matter. »»»»»

By Harout Sassounian,

The State Department has acted negligently and possibly in contempt of Congress by withholding assistance that it had expressly allocated to Nagorno Karabagh (Artsakh) during the past 12 years. The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) revealed last week that the State Department only spent about half of the amount allocated by Congress to Artsakh. »»»»»

Sects continue “soul saving” in Etchmiadzin’s backyard

After today’s Divine Liturgy celebrated by Catholicos Garegin II at Etchmiadzin celebrating the start of the school year, the Supreme Patriarch of the Armenian Church stated that the number of evangelical religious sects operating in Armenia was decreasing.

Catholicos Garegin II was responding to a Hetq reporter who asked why such sects were operating in the town of Etchmiadzin itself if, as the Catholicos claimed, the church was taking measures to strengthen the bonds between itself and Armenia’s youth, especially in terms of spiritual instruction. »»»»»

The start of the new school year in Armenia was ushered in today with a special Divine Liturgy at Etchmiadzin celebrated by Catholicos Garegin II. The Catholicos conveyed his blessings on the occasion and noted the historical strong bonds between the Armenian church and school

Present were RoA Minister of education Armen Ashotyan, representatives of the education departments of various Regional Administrations and school principals. Minister Ashotyan and Catholicos Garegin II met with reporters after church services. The Minister noted the important educational role the Armenian Church played during the long centuries when there was no Armenian state and thus no ministry of education. »»»»»

The Georgian authorities have arrested Hamlet Adamyan, a RoA citizen, after a lengthy investigation revealed that he had entered Georgia via Russia back October, 2008.

Adamyan was taken into custody in the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region. Russia had closed its border with Georgia in 2007 and opened border crossings in the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. “Gruzyia Online” reports that Armenian citizens often enter Georgia via the “occupied territories” and then make their way to other areas of Georgia Adamyan faces up to 5 years in jail and a hefty fine for violating Georgian border regulations.

The Municipal Council of the community of Yelpin (Vayots Dzor) has voted to prohibit the village mayor from signing any agreement with the “ARGAMIK” corporation allowing it to conduct geological surveys on municipal lands.

The Council’s August 28th decision was read aloud at a village meeting attended by the corporation’s management, representatives of the Vayots Dzor Regional Administration, local residents and a working delegation from the environmental group Ecolur. »»»»»

The New National Conservative Movement will hold its first congress on September 10 ate the Erebuni Hotel in Yerevan.

The congress will issue a declaration defining the organizational and political tasks that the Movement will undertake to register as a political party in Armenia.

ANTELIAS, Lebanon – A statement published by the Office of Information of the Catholicosate of Cilicia informed the public that the Catholicosate will not attend the inauguration of the Holy Cross Armenian Church. This position differs from the Etchmiadzin Catholicosate that will be sending a low-level two clergy delegation.

In an attempt to convince the European Union and UNESCO that Turkey safeguards the cultural heritage of its occupied lands, the government restored the Holy Cross Armenian Church building, but instead of keeping it as a church, transformed it into a museum, the statement reads. »»»»»

Viktor, Seko and others have left their mark on church walls. Will today’s visitors be as disrespectful?

The Gtchavank monastery complex high up in the distance. »»»»»

For some Diaspora Armenians it’s the “ultimate high”

By Edna Baghoumian

It is mid August again and the heat has been unbearable, here, in Yerevan, but the conditions for climbing Mt Ararat (elevation 5,165 m/16,946 ft) are perfect – the best time of the year for such an undertaking. »»»»»

According to Minister of Agriculture Gerasim Alaverdyan climatic conditions have lead to the international price rise in wheat, but the official says Armenia is not facing a shortage of wheat reserves.

The Minister has recently met with eight Armenian importers of wheat recently, who told him that they have been making purchases of sufficient wheat to meet domestic demand. This year, Armenia expects a 280,000 ton crop of various cereal grains, of which 120,000-130,000 is wheat. »»»»»

Georgia Seeks to Regain “Paper” Control of Lost Borders

See also: Inviolable Borders: Georgian Court Sentences Armenian to One Year, Inviolable Borders: Georgians Arrest Armenian for Abkhazia Visit

Hetq has already covered the case of RoA citizen Arman Ghazaryan, who was arrested by Georgian authorities and sentenced to one year imprisonment for entering Georgian territory from the breakaway republic of Abkhazia. »»»»»

During a working visit to the NKR on August 29, RoA President Serzh Sargsyan visited the new Public School 11 in the capital of Stepanakert. There he fielded questions from the teachers. One asked about the Azerbaijani resolution to be presented to the United Nations about Karabakh.

Q – Today, the NKR is developing daily. We are building the country with our own hands. But Azerbaijan today constantly strives to present resolutions in the United Nations and other world bodies that distort the truth about the NKR. How long will Baku continue on this course and don’t they understand that this is another republic that is no longer tied to Azerbaijan?

A – You should ask this of Aliyev. All I can speak about is what Armenia is doing and what the policy is of a large segment of the Armenian people. »»»»»

Renowned theatrical artist Grisha Sahakyan has passed away at the age of 63. Mr. Sahakyan is best known for his scene paintings for such operas as Almast, Anoush and Davit Bek

A member of the Armenian Union of Artists and Theatrical Players, Grisha Sahakyan had worked on set designs and paintings in Armenia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Lebanon, Russia and Latvia. During his exemplary career, Mr. Sahakyan served as Chief Illustrator for the Yerevan Art Institute and the Hagop Baronian Musical Comedy Theater in Yerevan.

RoA President Serzh Sargsyan has promoted Sergey Manasaryan, now serving as Armenia’s Ambassador to Bulgaria, to the post of RoA Deputy Foreign Minister.

The U.S. State Department announced in June that 63 projects worldwide were chosen to receive funding this year from the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation, set up to help protect the world’s historical and cultural patrimony

In Armenia, for example, funding will support the documentation of 20 Armenian folk dances and their associated music and traditions. The project will include production of an instructional dance DVD to be broadcast on Armenian television. »»»»»

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, today signed an agreement with Inecobank to further expand access to trade finance for small and medium enterprises in Armenia.

IFC Executive Vice President and CEO Lars Thunell and Avetis Baloyan, CEO of Inecobank were present for the signing, which formalizes a partnership that will allow the bank to provide enhanced trade finance solutions for import and export clients and increase its trade finance operations. Under the agreement, IFC, through its Global Trade Finance Program, will guarantee individual trade transactions financed by Inecobank. »»»»»

Today, a press conference was scheduled to take place in Yerevan where MP Lernik Aleksanyan and Hrach Berberyan, President of the RoA Agrarian Union, were to discuss the rise in the price of agricultural prices, notably the potato. (In eastern Armenian, the word for potato is kartofil, a Russian term, and not getnakhndzor).

Anyway, Mr. Berberyan never showed up; he was in Lori Marz and couldn’t make it back to Yerevan. Thus MP Aleksanyan, of the ruling Armenian Republican Party, proceeded to expound his views as to why potato prices had gone up. For a start, he argues that the price hike couldn’t be blames on the ‘oligarchs’, but rather market conditions and the vagaries of the climate. »»»»»