Last updated 12 July 2010
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Articles in English – Last Updated 12 July 2010
11 July 2010
A real ‘vintage shoe’
From the Palette
By Kay Sluterbeck
If you’re a woman who wears a size 7 shoe – and you happen to be 5,500 years old – your lost right moccasin has been found, and it’s in great condition. It might smell a bit funky, though. The world’s oldest shoe was recently discovered under a layer of sheep dung in a cave in Armenia, on the border between Iran and Turkey. This shoe was worn by someone who lived a thousand years before the Great Pyramid of Giza was built.
It isn’t known if the shoe was accidentally lost by its owner, or if it was deliberately buried in the cave as part of a ritual. Along with the shoe, the archaeologists also found three pots, each containing a child’s skull, as well as containers of well-preserved barley, wheat, apricot and other edible plants.
The right-footed shoe is made from a single piece of cowhide that was wrapped around the foot. The leather was tanned using vegetable oil. The back and top of the shoe were stitched together with a leather thong that ran through four and 15 sets of eyelets respectively. Loose grass was stuffed into the shoe, either as padding to keep the shoe warm or as a way to maintain the shape of the shoe when it was not being worn.
“We were all amazed to see its state of preservation and the fine details such as the laces, eyelets and the straw inside it,” said Ron Pinhasi of Ireland’s University College Cork and lead author of the research published in “PLoS One,” a journal of the Public Library of Science.
Scientists aren’t really sure if the shoe was worn by a man or a woman, because people were probably much smaller 5,500 years ago. They speculate that it may have been worn by an early farmer living in the mountains of the Vayotz Dzor province.
Its incredible preservation is due to the cool, dry cave and the thick layer of sheep dung. The dung acted as a solid seal to keep the ancient leather piece in perfect condition. In fact, the shoe was in such good shape that archaeologists initially thought that the shoe and other objects found in the cave were only about 600-700 years old.
“It was only when the material was dated that we realized that the shoe was older by a few hundred years than the shoes worn by Oetzi, the Iceman,” said Pinhasi.
Oetzi, you may recall, is Europe’s oldest natural human mummy, dating back 5,300 years. He was found in a melting glacier, and is preserved in cold storage in a scientific facility. Oetzi’s shoes included an inner “sock” made of grass, and a separate sole and upper made of deer and bear leather held together by a leather strap. Prior to the discovery of the shoe in the Armenian cave, Oetzi’s shoes were the oldest known leather footwear, and they were not complete; only parts of his footwear were discovered.
The previous oldest known non-leather footwear were sandals made from plants found in a cave in Missouri. They were made and worn a few hundred years after the Armenian shoe.
Three samples of the shoe’s leather were carbon-dated at the University of Oxford and the University of California. All tests gave the same results: Both the shoe and the grass in it date back to the Chalcolithic period, around 3,500 B.C.
Pinhasi says, “We now know that people were wearing shoes already 5,500 years ago and that these were not so different from the ones we had until recent times.” In fact, up until the 1950s, shoes very similar to the shoe from the cave, called “pampooties,” were worn on the Aran Islands in the west of Ireland.
Armenia’s climate 5,500 years ago was similar to today’s – hot in the summer, snowy in winter. The owner of the shoe would have worn wool and leather clothes, and relied on the shoes for protection as she walked around the rocky terrain. The shoe may have been made locally, or acquired through trade with the more sophisticated peoples of Mesopotamia.
The Sofia Echo
6 July 2010
Yerevan named World Book Capital 2012 by Unesco
byClive Leviev-Sawyer
Unesco Director-General Irina Bokova
The selection committee brings together representatives of Unesco and some of the main professional associations in the book industry – the International Publishers Association, the International Booksellers Federation and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions.
“I congratulate the city of Yerevan, which has presented a particularly interesting programme with many different themes, including the freedom of expression, as well as several activities for children, who will be the readers and authors of tomorrow,” Unesco Director-General Irina Bokova said.
“Mobilizing the entire world of books and reading, from authors to printers and publishers, will undoubtedly help to make the Yerevan programme a major success, with a sustainable impact,” Bokova said.
The city chosen as World Book Capital holds the distinction for one year, beginning on World Book and Copyright Day, which is observed on April 23.
Yerevan is the 12th city to be designated World Book Capital, after Madrid (2001), Alexandria (2002), New Delhi (2003), Antwerp (2004), Montreal (2005), Turin (2006), Bogotá (2007), Amsterdam (2008), Beirut (2009), Ljubljana (2010) and Buenos Aires (2011).
5 July 2010
Tert.am
Hilary Clinton visited Tsitsernakaberd memorial complex
The official delegation headed by the US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton visited Tsitsernakaberd memorial complex of the Armenian Genocide victims. Mrs Clinton laid a wrath at the memorial of the Armenian genocide victims and honored the memory of them with one minute silence at the eternal flame, according to the official web site of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institue.
Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Hayk Demoyan briefed US Secretary of State on the history of the construction of Armenian genocide memorial and the humanitarian response of the United States and American people to destitute victims of the Armenian genocide.
The Secretary of State was informed also about the burials of the Armenian martyrs fallen during the self-defense fighting in Karabagh but buried in Tsitsernakaberd as a sign of continuity of the genocide in the Armenian popular memory.
Tert.am
5 հուլիսի 2010
Քլինթոնն այցելել է Ծիծեռնակաբերդ
ԱՄՆ պետքարտուղար Հիլարի Քլինթոնը այսօր Երևանից Թբիլիսի մեկնելուց առաջ այցելել է Հայոց ցեղասպանության զոհերի հիշատակը հավերժացնող Ծիծեռանակաբերդի հուշահամալիր և ծաղկեպսակ դրել «Հավերժական կրակի» մոտ` մեկ րոպե լռությամբ հարգելով Հայոց ցեղասպանության զոհերի հիշատակը:
Հայոց ցեղասպանության թանգարանի տնօրեն Հայկ Դեմոյանը Պետքարտուղարին ներկայացրել է Մեծ Եղեռնի հուշահամալիրի կառուցման պատմությունը` անդրադառնալով նաև հայերի դեմ իրագործված ցեղասպանությանը, Միացյալ Նահանգների, ամերիկյան ժողովրդի մարդասիրական արձագանքին և նրանց կողմից ցեղասպանության զոհերին անգնահատելի աջակցություն ցուցաբերելուն:
Այցի ընթացքում ԱՄՆ Պետքարտուղարը հետաքրքրվել է նաև Ծիծեռնակաբերդի հուշահամալիրի տարածքում արցախյան ինքնապաշտպանական մարտերի ժամանակ զոհված ազատամարտիկների գերեզմանների առկայությամբ: Ամերիկյան պատվիրակությունը տեղեկացվել է, որ հայ ազգային ինքնագիտակցության մեջ Արցախյան պատերազմն ընկալվել է որպես ցեղասպանության շարունակություն, որի առաջին զոհերը թաղվել են հենց Ծիծեռնակաբերդում:
Հայկ Դեմոյանն ամերիկյան պատվիրակությանը Հայոց ցեղասպանության թանգարանի կողմից հանձնել է պատմական մեդալ` թողարկված Ամերիկյան նպաստամատույց կազմակերպության կողմից 1920-ականների սկզբներին` Հայաստանում և Մերձավոր Արևելքի որբանոցներում իրենց ծառայությունը բերած աշխատակիցներին պարգևատրելու համար: Պատվավոր հյուրին հանձնվել է նաև մի լուսանկար, որում պատկերված են Ալեքսանդրապոլի (ներկայիս Գյումրիի) ամերիկյան որբանոցի հայ որբերը` կանգնած «Ամերիկա, շնորհակալ ենք» դասավորությամբ: Այս մասին տեղեկանում ենք Ցեղասպանության թանգարան–ինստիտուտի կայքից։
4 July 2010
The New York Times
Clinton Urges Azerbaijan and Armenia to End Dispute
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton appealed to Armenia and Azerbaijan on Sunday to peacefully settle their long-running territorial dispute, but there were no outward signs of diplomatic progress.
The dispute between the two former Soviet states risks escalating to warfare and has caused diplomatic problems beyond their borders. Shuttling between their capitals, she told leaders to act quickly to settle the matter.
“The final steps toward peace often are the most difficult, but we believe peace is possible,” Mrs. Clinton said at news conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, with her counterpart in that nation, Elmar Mammadyarov.
She soon made the one-hour flight to Armenia and drove to the presidential palace in Yerevan for a meeting and dinner with President Serge Sarkisian, who said the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave in Azerbaijan that has been under the control of Armenian troops and ethnic Armenian forces since a 1994 cease-fire, was the single most important issue for his country.
The truce ended six years of war that killed about 30,000 and displaced an estimated 1 million.
Mr. Sarkisian’s words were almost identical to those made in a statement hours earlier by President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan, which shares a border with Iran, is of particular strategic importance to the United States. Tens of thousands of flights carrying war supplies to United States and allied forces in Afghanistan have crossed Azerbaijan’s airspace over the past nine years of fighting there since the Sept. 11 attacks. Azerbaijan also is part of an overland supply chain that is a critical alternative to the main land route through Pakistan to Afghanistan.
The United States also has good relations with Armenia, and has worked to broker an agreement between Armenia and Turkey on establishing formal diplomatic relations and opening their sealed border after a century of enmity.
Turkey, however, has refused to ratify the agreement until Armenia removes its military forces of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Turks have close cultural and linguistic ties to Azerbaijan.
At an evening news conference in Yerevan, Mrs. Clinton implicitly criticized Azerbaijan for a recent outbreak of violence. In mid-June, an exchange of gunfire along the front lines near Nagorno-Karabakh killed four ethnic Armenian troops and one Azerbaijani soldier.
The secretary of state urged Turkey to move ahead with the agreement to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia and said Armenia has done its part by stating its willingness to go forward with ratification of the agreement once Turkey drops its insistence that Armenia and Azerbaijan first settle their differences.
4 July 2010
Voice of America
Clinton Presses Armenia, Azerbaijan for Nagorno-Karabakh Settlement
David Gollust | Yerevan, Armenia
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Sunday with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to press for progress toward settling their long-standing dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh. Clinton completes her brief visit to the southern Caucasus region Monday in Georgia.
She delivered the same message in Yerevan and Baku: that settling the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, on the basis of principles offered by international mediators, will open the way for political and economic gains that have eluded the region thus far.
The issue of Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic-Armenian enclave controlled by Armenian forces within the borders of Azerbaijan, has been a sources of periodic violence since before the collapse of the Soviet Union, including clashes in recent weeks.
The United States and its partners in the Minsk Group, France and Russia, have been trying to defuse the issue with confidence-building interim proposals aimed at spurring direct negotiations.
Clinton, beginning her day in Baku was told by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev that peace requires an Armenian troop withdrawal. “As you know, for many years, our lands are under occupation. The United Nations Security Council, the OSCE, European Parliament, the Council of Europe, the Islamic Conference organization, all have adopted resolutions which reflect the situation and which demand the withdrawal of Armenian troops from internationally-recognized territories of Azerbaijan,” she said.
Hours later in Yerevan, the Secretary was meeting with Armenian President Sergh Sarkisyan, who depicted the conflict as a struggle for self determination for Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic-Armenian majority.
“The people of Nagorno Karabakh have a right for free development and advancement on their historic land. And the right of people for self-determination is one of the most fundamental principles of international law, which has been the basis of independence of most countries in the world today,” Sarkisyan said.
Nagorno-Karabakh is considered one of the “frozen conflicts” of the southern European-Caucasus region, but the lethal clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces in the disputed area last month underline its volatility.
Meeting with reporters after her meeting with the Armenian president, Clinton said the clashes are unacceptable violations of a 1994 cease-fire and contrary to the stated commitments of both sides.
She said the United States urges them to refrain from the threat of, and use of, force and apply themselves to the Minsk peace process and completing basic principles leading to a final settlement.
“Everyone knows these are difficult steps to take, but we believe they are important ones and we have expressed our concern to both presidents today that the return to violence is unacceptable. We regret the incidents of the last several weeks. And it is in the interests, first and foremost of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, but certainly of Azerbaijan, Armenia and the greater region, to work as hard as we can together to come up with an acceptable, lasting settlement of this conflict,” Clinton said.
Clinton, who is to spend several hours Monday in Georgia, reaffirmed her call for Russia to end what she termed the “continuing occupation” of the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia since the 2008 war with Georgia.
But she said the Obama administration believes it is possible to pursue a “comprehensive common agenda” with Moscow without disagreements on such issues as Georgia, as she put it, “freezing our relationship.”
3 July 2010
The Washington Post
How to prevent another war in the Southern Caucasus
By Ronald D. Asmus
After Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s recent visit, the Obama administration wants to prove it has a strategy to deepen ties with allies such as Poland while it pursues a reset with Russia, so it has sent Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on a whirlwind tour of Central and Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus. The trip also seeks to blunt conservative criticism that Washington is sacrificing allies for the sake of reconciliation with Moscow.
The administration has tried to pursue a twin-track strategy: reengaging Russia while upholding the core principle that these countries have the right to choose their own foreign policies and reject Moscow’s claims of a sphere of influence. The real question, however, is not about the administration’s rhetoric but whether its words are backed up with policies that produce meaningful engagement. So far, those policies are not in place. That is one deficit that Clinton’s trip will hopefully start to change.
The administration has already put relations with Central and Eastern Europe back on track on key issues such as missile defense. Negotiations over a new strategic concept offer an opportunity to provide reassurance and to make good on American and NATO promises to engage in defense planning and exercises and create infrastructure. Dealing with the South Caucasus is trickier. Two years ago, the West was caught by surprise when war broke out between Russia and Georgia and threatened to destabilize the region. The risk of future conflict cannot be ruled out. The administration needs to confront three very real dangers:
The first is the deteriorating relationship between Azerbaijan and Armenia and the conflict in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Recent shootings and casualties underscore the rising tensions. The collapse — hopefully temporary — of Turkish-Armenian rapprochement has also elevated tensions. Absent greater international and Western engagement, these tit-for-tat shootings could spin out of control and turn into a real war over the summer.
Second, we should not be deluded into thinking that the Russia-Georgia conflict is over. Moscow is determined to break Tbilisi’s will to align with the West. It may opt to wait out Mikheil Saakashvili’s Georgian presidency before making its next move, but its goals are unchanged. While Georgia has weathered the war and the global economic crisis better than expected, the unresolved status of the breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and the presence there of Russian forces — effectively an occupation — are a drag on attempts to stabilize and reform Georgia. The border regime managed by unarmed European Union monitors is weak. It is doubtful that mission would be adequate if real instability or tension arose.
But the biggest danger, and the wild card, in the region may be the North Caucasus, where a nasty brew of radicalization, destabilization and insurgent activity continues. The 2014 Olympic Games to be held in Sochi — a prestige project for Moscow — threaten to play into this dynamic. The Russian government may feel the need, in Vladimir Putin’s words, to “clean up” the region by eliminating the dangers that insurgents may stage terrorist attacks at the Olympics. In other words, Moscow may crack down so that the worst violence is over well before Western journalists start to pay attention or the first international athlete arrives in 2014. But that kind of preemptive action may make the situation worse.
The kind of blowback Moscow faces today for having encouraged separatist forces in the region for many years is a nightmare not only for Russian leaders but also for the West. Imagine if jihadists in the region thicken their ties to the similarly named groups we are nettling in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Even if the contagion does not spread that far, it could destabilize the South Caucasus. Historically, Russia has often sought to use the South Caucasus to control the North. Should it do so today by demanding the right of hot pursuit, the use of airspace or Georgian territory, we could quickly find ourselves on the precipice of another unwanted conflict.
What should the United States and the West do more generally? The administration’s foreign policy plate is full, but this is a classic case in which a modest investment now can help prevent or contain bigger problems later. Washington must try to engage Moscow on the North Caucasus. We are likely to have little leverage in influencing Russia’s policies there, but we might be able to limit the collateral damage and potential spillover from such policies in the South Caucasus. That sort of long-term payoff would require efforts now to put in place more effective border management mechanisms, involving the international community; stepped-up efforts to build political and economic stability; and the kind of reassurance that would enable these countries to weather such a storm.
Modest investments now could help prevent much greater problems down the road. Hopefully Secretary Clinton is finding consensus on this around the region.
The writer, a deputy assistant secretary of state in the Clinton administration, is executive director of the Brussels-based Transatlantic Center at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. The views expressed here are his own.
26 June 2010
US, Russia, France back Nagorno-Karabakh peace moves
Reuters UK
HUNTSVILLE, Ontario, June 26 (Reuters) – The United States, France and Russia on Saturday pledged to support Armenia and Azerbaijan as they try to agree basic principles for settling a dispute over Azerbaijan’s breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.
U.S. President Barack Obama, joined by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, said both sides had made a significant step in accepting the overall framework of a deal and now needed to work on details.
“Now the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan need to take the next step and complete the work on the basic principles to enable the drafting of a peace agreement to begin,” the three leaders said in a joint statement issued during a Group of Eight meeting in Canada.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton plans to visit both Armenia and Azerbaijan early next month during a trip to the South Caucasus.
The dispute between mostly Muslim Azerbaijan and mostly Christian Armenia remains a threat to stability in the South Caucasus, an important route for oil and gas supplies from the Caspian region to Europe.
Skirmishes, sometimes fatal, erupt frequently along front lines near Nagorno-Karabakh, a small mountainous region under the control of ethnic Armenians who fought a six-year separatist war with support from neighboring Armenia.
An estimated 30,000 people were killed and one million displaced before a cease-fire in 1994 but a peace accord has never been agreed and the ethnic Armenian leadership’s independence claim has not been recognized by any country.
The three powers’ joint statement on Saturday said the so-called “Helsinki principles” now recognized by both sides relate to the return of the occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, interim status for Nagorno-Karabakh guaranteeing security and self-governance and a corridor linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh.
The framework also calls for the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh to be determined by a legally-binding vote and the right of all internally-displaced persons and refugees to return.
More than a decade of mediation led by Russia, France and the United States has failed to produce a final peace deal and Azerbaijan has said it may use force to try to regain control of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Tension has increased since Armenia and its traditional foe Turkey, which has close ties to Azerbaijan, reached a rapprochement last year.
The accord crumbled this year when Armenia suspended ratification after Turkish demands that it first reach terms over Nagorno-Karabakh, a condition set by Turkey to appease Azerbaijan, an oil and gas producer. (reporting by Alister Bull, writing by Andrew Quinn; editing by David Storey)
22 June 2010
OSCE, EU Condemn Karabakh ‘Armed Incident’
RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
The French, Russian, and U.S. co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group issued a toughly worded statement on June 21 condemning the reconnaissance mission by Azerbaijani forces late on June 18 across the Line of Contact separating Azerbaijani and Karabakh Armenian forces east of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh republic.
Four Karabakh Armenian conscripts and one Azerbaijani serviceman died in the incident near the village of Chaylu in the district of Mardakert in northeastern Karabakh. Four more Armenian servicemen were injured.
Armenia launched a retaliation attack during the night of June 20-21 on Azerbaijani positions in Fizuli, southeast of the disputed enclave, killing one Azerbaijani serviceman. Of the seven Azerbaijani districts contiguous to Nagorno-Karabakh currently occupied by Armenian forces, Fizuli is one of the two that Baku is reportedly demanding should be the first to be returned to Azerbaijani control.
The Minsk Group co-chairs termed the June 18 attack, which took place the day after they met in Moscow with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to discuss a peaceful solution to the conflict, as “an unacceptable violation of the 1994 Cease-Fire Agreement and…contrary to the stated commitment of the sides to refrain from the use of force or the threat of the use of force. The use of military force at this juncture “can only be seen as an attempt to damage the peace process,” they said.
The EU’s special representative for the South Caucasus, Ambassador Peter Semneby, for his part described the attack to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on June 21 as “a deplorable event” that “should not have taken place.” He further expressed regret for the “unnecessary tragic loss of life.”
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Elhan Polukhov said the June 18 clash was the direct consequence of Armenia’s failure to withdraw from occupied Azerbaijani territory. He said the way to avoid a reoccurrence is for Armenia “to sit down at the negotiating table and continue talks on the basis of the updated Madrid principles,” which he implied Armenia is unwilling to do.
Richard Giragosian, director of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS) in Yerevan, said that while the June 18 attack fits into “a consistent pattern of limited skirmishes and probes, especially Azerbaijani probing the defensive positions on the Armenian side,” it was nonetheless the most serious cease-fire violation in the past two years.
Citing unidentified Armenian military sources, he said the attack must have been prepared over a period of several days. He described it as more professional and more deadly than previous such incursions. The attack began with an Azerbaijani sniper inflicting a fatal head wound on an Armenian soldier on the front line.
Giragosian said the Armenian military anticipates an intensification of Azerbaijani military activity in coming months.
*UPDATE: It has been brought to my attention that I appear inadvertently to have misrepresented the statement bythe OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs that condemned the violent incident, but did not blame Azerbaijan for starting it. The statement further called on the sides to “exercise restraint” and “prepare their population for peace.”
Artikels in het Nederlands – Last updated 24 June 2010
21 juni 2010
Doden bij aanval op Nagorno-Karabakh
(Novum/AP) – Vier Armeense militairen zijn vrijdagnacht omgekomen tijdens een gevecht met militairen van het Azerbeidzjaanse leger in de betwiste enclave Nagorno-Karabakh. Dat heeft het Armeense ministerie van defensie bekendgemaakt.
Volgens het ministerie ontstonden de gevechten vrijdagavond nadat een groep Azerbeidzjaanse militairen probeerde Nagorno-Karabakh, een bergachtig gebied dat onderdeel is van Azerbeidzjan maar sinds 1994 onder controle van Armenië valt, binnen te dringen.
Edvard Nalbandyan, de Armeense minister van defensie, zei zaterdag dat de aanval werd afgeslagen en de Azerbeidzjaanse militairen zich terugtrokken. De aanval was volgens hem bedoeld om gesprekken, die erop gericht zijn een eind te maken aan de ruzie over het gebied, te verstoren.
Trouw
Doden bij zware gevechten in Nagorno-Karabach
Jerevan – Bij zware gevechten in het grensgebied van de Armeense enclave Nagorno-Karabach zijn zeker vijf militairen om het leven gekomen, aldus het Armeense ministerie van defensie zaterdag. Verkenningseenheden uit Azerbeidzjan drongen in de nacht van vrijdag op zaterdag het grondgebied van Nagorno-Karabach binnen. Vier Armeense militairen en een Azerbeidzjaan kwamen om het leven. Nagorno-Karabach, met een overwegend Armeense bevolking, scheidde zich begin jaren negentig af van Azerbeidzjan na een bloedige oorlog.
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